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Gender
Women
& Politics
PML-Q has suspended the
party membership of MNA Kashmala Tariq and sent a reference to the NA
Speaker who shall then forward it to the Election Commission of
Pakistan to de-seat her from the NA. PML-Q sources said that the action
was taken against her for violating party discipline and passing
statements against the party’s top leadership. The sources said that
there were reports that she was trying to form a forward bloc of the
party in the NA in connivance with Adviser to the Prime Minister on
Interior Rehman Malik. PML-Q leadership had contacted former minister
Hamayun Akhtar Khan, Kashmala’s mentor, and asked him to convince her
to mend her ways. The party sources said Kashmala’s party membership
had also been cancelled.
Kashmala
Vows to Fight for her ‘Right’: Kashmala Tariq vowed to
fight for her right in the party. She said that PML-Q leadership can
expel me from the party, but they cannot de-seat me. I do not fall
under the defection clause. She said there were many other members in
the party against whom the party had similar allegations, but no action
had been taken against them. Kashmala claimed that she was amongst a
‘reformers group’ of the party who had reservations about the
leadership’s policies, and had publicly expressed their apprehensions
in a democratic way. Kashmala said were the defection clause to be
suspended for a day, the ‘Chaudhrys of Gujrat’ would know how many
members stood by them.
India’s Dalit Icon
aims for Top Job
Will an
"Untouchable" become India's
next Prime Minister?
The way a number of
Indian opposition parties are rallying around Mayawati, a Dalit or
"untouchable" icon, and touting her as a future prime minister must be
gladdening the hearts of 160 million members of the community she
represents. The 52-year-old daughter of a
government clerk who grew up in a shanty town in the capital, Delhi, has
emerged as the pivot of a fledgling "third front" in Indian politics.
It is trying to throw down the gauntlet to the coalitions led by the
governing Congress and opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP). Ms Mayawati's "third front" brings together a slew of
regional parties and communists, who are still smarting after they
stopped supporting the government over its nuclear deal with the US.
This despite the fact
that her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), a regional party based in Uttar
Pradesh, India's most populous state, has only 17 seats in the
parliament. Since the 2004 general election, Mayawati's fortunes have
soared. In the last state assembly elections a little over a year ago,
her party swept to power winning 206 of the 403 seats and more
importantly, had leads in 55 of the state's 80 parliamentary
constituencies. Her party also polled well in at least 60 parliamentary
seats outside Uttar Pradesh, making her a pan-Indian Dalit icon of
sorts.
The canny political
strategist has also broadened her appeal, wooing upper-caste Hindus and
Muslims - she has 29 Muslim and 52 upper-caste Brahmin members in the
present state assembly. In India's fractious and
caste-driven polity, this is a masterstroke in social engineering - an
unprecedented coalition of the poorest of the poor and the rich, and of
Hindus and Muslims. And this has taken place in a state which accounts
for one in seven MPs in the Indian Parliament. The upshot, say
analysts, is that her party has become a factor in about 10 states, and
could play the spoiler there for the bigger parties in next year's
general elections. The unorthodox Mahatma Gandhi-baiting politician
with a penchant for gaudy birthday celebrations, expensive jewelry and
personal statues has been an enigma for India's upper classes and
journalists. On the one hand, her homegrown charisma and mass-based
leadership qualities have never been in doubt; on the other, she has
been assailed with charges of amassing wealth and property beyond her
means. But he says her triumphant Dalit-Brahmin alliance in Uttar
Pradesh has become a "blueprint for electoral success" in India.
Analysts say Ms Mayawati
thrives best during periods of political instability, even when she
appears to lack the numbers to form governments. With only 66
legislators in the 403-member assembly, she took power in Uttar Pradesh
twice. She secured a third term with 99 legislators. This is exactly
what could happen if the Mayawati-led "third front" mops up about 100
seats or more in next year's general elections which are expected to
leave no party with a clear majority. Analysts
say that Ms Mayawati is also trying to move beyond a purely caste-based
agenda to enhance her appeal among upper-castes and classes - her
government recently brought in English in primary schools and announced
new urban housing and health plans. But she could also blow her chances
because of what her critics describe as her "despotic" side, and a lack
of any second rung of leadership. However, the prospect of Ms Mayawati
becoming the Prime Minister has immense symbolic value. The next
general elections will tell whether Ms Mayawati manages to exploit this
opportunity.
Women
& Laws
Gender
Mainstreaming through Legal Reforms
A three-day (21-23 July)
roundtable titled ‘Gender Mainstreaming through Legal
Reforms,’ was organized by Planning Commission of Pakistan in
collaboration with German Technical Cooperation (GTZ). Organized at a
time when legislations directly affecting women have been presented
before the Parliament for discussion, the roundtable was attended by
gender experts, secretaries of key ministries, and representatives of
civil society and women political leaders. Speaker National Assembly
Fahmida Mirza inaugurated the event. She appreciated the efforts of the
Planning Commission for involving all stakeholders in the process of
legal reforms regarding gender and said that women were generally
confined to subordinate roles in the society. She said that the lacunae
of gender imbalance was so deeply imbedded in human history that it was
rightly said that history itself had largely remained ‘his-story’ since
‘her story’ had never been written.
She pointed out that
despite the fact that this region has produced some of the most
talented women statespersons of international fame and repute, women in
this society have remained victims of religious misinterpretations and
social and cultural biases. Highlighting the gaps in the role played by
the state regarding gender mainstreaming in past, Fahmida said that it
remained faulty and was hesitant to break the status-quo and existing
power structure by turning a blind eye to the flagrant escalation of
practices like Vinni, Swara and Walwar. She said that it was only after
the intense and laborious campaign by women activists and other members
of civil society that the executive hesitantly agreed to take some half
hearted steps but even in this respect the forceful implementation of
the existing laws remains by and large missing. Further criticizing the
role of state, she said with regard to religious debate, the state
became the party for discriminating against women with the enforcement
of controversial presidential ordinance in 1979. Rejecting the concept
of ‘Protection’ in the famous Women Protection Bill, she said that her
party voted for the bill as it was an attempt to provide some relief to
misery-stricken women but what the state failed to understand was that
the word ‘protection’ was in itself damaging. She added that it
strengthens the social perception of women as subordinates and
incapable. Stressing the need to review Shariah laws in the light of
changed circumstances, she said that the maze of religious
misinterpretations and social and cultural biases continue to haunt
half of the population of the country denying its due role in national
development. The Speaker said that laws could only orient the society
towards the right direction but the will to move towards the given
direction comes from emancipation of the society. She regretted that
despite the existence of many laws, there was little adherence to them.
Special Assistant to
Prime Minister Shehnaz Wazir Ali said that gender mainstreaming means
addressing the concerns of both men and women in all spheres. She said
that there was a need to draw efficient mechanism to properly diagnose
the gender gaps and analyze all gender dimensions during the process of
making policies and legal reforms.
She said that tremendous
amount of work is required to provide equal opportunities to women with
regard to education, employment, physical mobility, access to justice
and health facilities and these issues can no longer be ignored. Deputy
Chairman Planning Commission Salman Farooqui said that the roundtable
would play a vital role in institutionalizing the process of gender
mainstreaming and would work as a catalyst for public private
partnership in this direction. “Participation of all stakeholders shows
the general commitment towards empowering women in all spheres of
life.” Secretary Planning and Development Division Suhail Safdar said
that the routable was mainly themed to assess the responsiveness of
labour laws to women in formal and informal sectors, harassment at work
place and successful legal reforms in SAARC countries. Representative
of GTZ Ulirich Grabowsky said that there was a need to engender social
sector PC-1 format. In her concluding remarks, gender expert at the
Planning Commission Viqar-un-Nisa Hashmi said that the event would
include series of vibrant discussions leading to concrete
recommendations for formulization of reforms and implementation
process. Depicting the harsh realities about the problems faced by
women home based workers, a documentary titled ‘Yeh Hath Salamat Hein
Jab Tak’ was also screened on the occasion. Executive Director Meher
Garh Dr Fauzia Saeed gave an elaborate presentation on the issue of
harassment at work place and legal reforms required to curb the menace.
Women
& Economics
Land
Record Documentation System Recommended
The research study on
“Women’s Land Rights” has recommended reforms and land redistribution
with the intervention of government, as there is a need to ensure
redistribution laws and policies are gender sensitive and target poor
population. The policy and research findings launched by Sustainable
Development Policy Institute (SDPI), on July 24, has been jointly
funded by Actionaid-Pakistan, International Development Research Centre
(IDRC) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
Senior Advisor to the
Prime Minister on Social Sectors, Shahnaz Wazir Ali, while giving
presidential address on the occasion recommended land record
documentation system, formation of land courts, national identity cards
for women and land redistribution. She
lamented that government policies in the past have been very weak in
terms of addressing women’s structural concerns, adding that the focus
of all policies have been on financial approaches alone while ignoring
the broader social aspects. Wajiha Anwar, while giving presentation on
‘Women’s land rights: Law and policy’ said that the most important
change would be to bring inheritance and other family laws under a
secular civil code, which would enable the State to enact
gender-neutral laws. Even keeping within the confines of Muslim
Personal Law, the State could ensure that men and women get equal
shares in inheritance as in the case of Turkey
and Somalia
where male and female children inherit equally from the father’s
estate”. She also suggested that, if a woman provides land security for
a loan she should be given concessional credit. This would encourage
transfer of property to the woman’s name. Secretary, Law and Justice
Commission of Pakistan Dr Faqir Hussain laid stress on enforcement of
inheritance law adding that such an improved mechanism can be useful
for the full and effective enforcement of female right to inheritance.
He informed that not even 10 percent of women get their due right to
property. He stressed to implement the law in the areas of FATA &
FANA as well. Earlier, SDPI visiting research fellow, Dr Saba Gul
Khattak gave a brief presentation on the key findings and
recommendations of SDPI study adding that we believe that there are
windows of opportunity, gaps and spaces that can be utilized
effectively by the state, the parliament, the judiciary, and
development practitioners to push for women’s rights to land. For food
security and women’s traditional agricultural knowledge, it underlines
the need to preserve women’s knowledge about agricultural systems and
suggests build upon this knowledge to effectively deal with the present
out-migration phenomenon and current global food crises which is likely
to bring focus of the world economy to agriculture as there is a
growing realization that local and indigenous farming practices are
integral to sustainable agricultural output. On devolution and local
bodies, the study pinpoints that the local councilors be used to play a
role in land disputes or for ensuring equitable distribution of
inheritance and minimizing fraudulent methods of land capture.
Regarding agricultural labor, the study underscores that the
agricultural work should be brought into the fold of formal economy so
it could be regulated and workers could be protected. Women’s
contribution would thus be recognized and valued, and the multiple
issues of agricultural labor could be addressed more effectively, it
further adds.
Women to get Stipends
during Training
Monthly stipends ranging
from Rs 4,000 to Rs7,000 will be offered to women, with educational
qualifications of primary pass to masters, during their apprentice-ship
for varied training programs. A project in this regard, dedicated to
Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, was launched at Sindh Women Development
Directorate on July 3 morning. Project Director, Ashfaq Qadri briefing
the Provincial Minister for Women Development, Tauqir Fatima Bhutto,
said the Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Youth Development Program would mainly
focus on Sindh based women. Young girls and women were said to be
provided training in different skills in accordance to their academic
qualifications and capacities.
Programs to be offered
would include banking, secretarial skills, information technology,
fashion designing, tailoring, textile designing, honey bee harvesting
etc.
Giving a breakup of the
stipends to be offered to the women apprentice, Ashfaq Qadri said post
graduates (Masters) would be entitled of stipend worth Rs7000/- per
month followed by Rs 6000/-for graduates, Rs5000/- for Intermediate
qualified and Rs5000/- for those having passed their class five exams
or above up to matriculation. Sindh Minister for Women Development,
Tauqir Fatima Bhutto, expressed her pleasure that a major milestone was
to be achieved by the PPP Government, committed to the cause of women
empowerment. The Minister who has been actively involved in planning of
the scheme said a foolproof mechanism has been adopted for selection of
apprentice, said different departments of the Sindh government have
also been involved in the scheme.
‘Business City’
for Women in Major Cities of Punjab
Provincial Minister
Muhammad Ishaq while talking to the delegation of skilled women said
that to evoke the business and technical capacities of skilled women, ‘Business City’
would be established in major cities of Punjab.
He said that women are 52% of the population of Punjab
and it is the need of hour to utilize their skills for betterment. He
added that women’s capacity would be enhanced through different
refresher courses of accounting, budget, product and administration.
Gender
Budgeting
Call for Gender
Sensitization in Budget
The women members of
Sindh Assembly and women right activists emphasizing on gender
sensitization initiatives in federal as well as provincial budgets and
demanded that at least 20 percent jobs must be given to women in every
sector of government. They expressed these views in a seminar on
“Provincial analysis of budget from gender perspective” organized by
Aurat Publication and Information Service Foundation on July 4. The
seminar was attended by women member of provincial assembly belonging
to ruling coalition of PPP, MQM, and opposition party PML-F. PPP MPA
Humera Alwani speaking in the seminar said that inflation,
unemployment, suicides and poverty were the gifts of five years rule of
last coalition government which inherited PPP government. Highlighting
the positive aspects of budget of present government she pointed out
that distribution of land in landless farmers and women, low cost
houses for poor segment of population and Rs1000 for needy under
Benazir Development Programme can be counted gender sensitization
initiatives of present PPP government announced in federal and
provincial budget. The women constitute 52 percent of overall
population but they were not getting even 2 percent shares in jobs in
government sectors, she said and demanding from her own government she
emphasized that out of estimated 47000 vacant posts in provincial
departments of Sindh, at least 20 percent jobs should be given to
women. She regretted her party’s 5 year role of criticism on previous
government and urged the opposition member assemblies especially women
lawmakers for unity against problems and anti women laws. PPP women
lawmaker also demanded for segregate allocation for empowerment of
women in the budget. Another woman MPA Zarin Majeed of MQM said that
her party struggling for 98 percent population the country who deprived
of their rights by only 2 percent elite class. Despite being an ally of
PPP in provincial government, the MQM MPA termed that the budget of
current fiscal 2008-09 was pro people but it was not pro poor. Ms.
Marvi Rashdi MPA of PML (F) while criticizing the budget said that PPP
which claimed pro poor party had been withdrawn the subsidies on food
items which resulting in hike in inflation.
Gender Budgeting for
National Progress
Humera
Alwani
Gender budgeting, an
exclusive budget reserved for women in development, education, health,
social and welfare sectors, etc, is being practiced all over the world,
including the US, Australia and our neighbour India. This budget
defines policies and plans for women to achieve equal benefit and equal
output compared to menfolk. It provides them opportunities as per their
population ratio in every department of life. In the 2007-08 budget the
allocation in this regard was a niggardly Rs30 million. It’s the need
of the hour to introduce gender equality programme. Annually every
district in Sindh is getting a sum of Rs3 million in the name of Gender
Reform Action Plan, though it is another matter that a substantial
portion of this amount is either misused or misappropriated by the
corrupt in the administration. For example, a fair amount of money
allocated in 2007 for the release of eligible and deserving women
prisoners confined in jails in default of payment of fine, after
completing their sentence, was misappropriated. Although women
constitute 52 per cent of the population of the country, their needs,
development and progress are being deliberately ignored. They need an
equal amount in the country’s budget, specifically in healthcare,
including child healthcare and reproductive health. We need high
literacy ratio among women because good mothers are a great source for
making a good nation. Likewise women development budget for shelter
homes, training schools, skill-building centres, day-care centres, free
health, etc, is needed to strengthen the women and in turn strengthen
the nation along with the male population. I had made some such
proposals during the second tenure of Benazir Bhutto (1993-1996), who
started the Prime Minister’s Women Health Programme. Now we hope to
reactivate the programme, to be known as Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women
Health Programme, in which recruitment of lady doctors and health
visitors will be a top priority of the government which should
re-allocate appropriate funds, specifically for child and maternal
health care and provide maternal facilities at union council level of
every district.
The gender budgeting
proposals include:
§
Women teachers’
appointment at primary level.
§
Scholarships for girl
students from Classes V to X.
§
Introduction of women
recruitment/employment policy in every sector of life.
§
Change in discriminatory
promotion policy for women.
§
Hostels for working women
and shelter homes for shelterless women.
§
Appointment of more women
judges in family courts.
§
Reactivating of women
police stations
§
Reactivating of women
banks
§
Providing easy credit for
small-scale businesses, including cottage industries, the minimum
credit amount being Rs300,000 without any guarantee and security.
§
Appointment of women
medical legal officers immediately at district hospital level.
§
Provision of agricultural
lands to women farmers and landless women
§
Rehabilitation of health
training institutions.
§
Cows and buffaloes at
subsidized rates will be given to women in rural areas to increase
their incomes.
§
Low -cost housing schemes
for divorced, needy and suppressed women, etc.
§
Plan to ensure equal
opportunities for rural women and those living in remote areas.
§
Exclusive budget to
minimize death ratio.
§
Separate line in Zakat
and Baitul Maal fund for women.
§
Introduction of adequate
Jehaz Fund.
§
Stipend for girl students
of primary and higher schools.
§
Training opportunities
for women in textile, garments and IT sectors.
§
Expansion of microfinance
for targeting poor women, particularly in rural areas of Sindh and
urban slums.
§
Establishment of
mother-child health centres.
As a Member of the
Provincial Assembly I have submitted such proposals to the Sindh Chief
Minister to allocate a separate gender budget. Women need equal
identification, equal rights, equal wages, equal representation in
decision-making process if our country wants to progress.
Women
& HR
Report on Violence
against Women by Aurat Foundation
NWFP: On July 11, Aurat
Foundation released its second quarterly report on violence against
women that showed 100 cases of murder, 13 of honour killing, 12 of
suicide, 18 of rape and one of Swara in Frontier province. Peshawar district
topped with 29% of total cases, the report revealed, followed by Mardan
and Charsadda, respectively. Asad Ali Qureshi and Shirin Javed jointly
compiled the report titled ‘Violence Against Women in NWFP April-June
2008’ under the AF project namely Policy and Data Monitor on Violence
Against Women. Presenting the report here, Shirin said there were 278
registered cases of violence against women during the second quarter of
the current year. She said that out of the total 278 cases, there were
100 cases of murder, 55 of hurt and body injuries, 16 of kidnapping, 13
of honour killing, 18 of rape, one of gang-rape, 13 of firearm, 12 of
suicide, 21 of domestic violence, two of trafficking, one each of
Swara, Vanni, stoning to death, poisoning and murder attempt, etc.
Shirin added in the incidents of suicide committed by 12 women, four
took their lives due to the family disputes; one owing to the
depression caused by prolonged illness and in seven cases the cause was
unknown. In 190 cases, the accused were either husband, father,
brother, cousin or neighbour and in-laws. In three cases the accused
were women. Asad Ali Qureshi told the participants the sources of the
information mentioned in the report were newspapers, police
headquarters, hospitals and women crisis centres, adding that these
were the reported cases and the list might swell if the a large number
of un-reported cases were included in it. The report stated that the
First Information Reports (FIR) in majority of the cases (shown in the
report) had been registered because the cases are collected from the
authentic sources, otherwise, there are hundreds of violence cases
where FIR is either not registered, or if registered, the facts are
twisted and investigation seldom results in favour of the victim.
Punjab: The Aurat Foundation’s
quarterly report (from April to June) for the province of Punjab
states: Violence against women is continuing to increase at an alarming
pace and no concrete steps are being taken to stop these gruesome
violations of women’s fundamental rights to life, security and freedom
to make independent choices in private and public arenas. The report is
made under the Foundation’s ‘Policy and Data Monitor on Violence
against Women’ and was presented at a seminar on July 14. The report
has been compiled by Nabeela Shaheen and Abid Ali. Speakers at the
seminar included Advocate Shamim Malik, Advocate Irum Sajjad Gul,
Shahtaj Qazilbash, Rubina Sehgal, Neelum Hussain, Nabeela Shaheen and
Abid Ali. The speakers expressed concern over the growing number of
incidents of violence against women. The purpose of the data collection
exercise and its subsequent dissemination is to constantly remind the
decision makers and all other stakeholders about the gravity of
situation and to make them realize the urgency of an all out concerted
effort, at all levels, to combat and eliminate gender based violence in
Pakistan. It is also a social awareness campaign to ensure that there
is zero tolerance for violence against women in society, both in rural
and urban areas.
The report has been
categorized incidents of violence depending on the nature of violence.
These have been categorized as murder, domestic violence, hurt and body
injury, kidnapping, firearm, suicide, beating, trafficking, burning,
forced marriage, rape, torture, honour killing, harassment at work
place (physical and sexual) and any other kind of violence. The report
shows that a total of 828 incidents of violence against women occurred
in 35 districts of Punjab between
April 1 and June 30 this year. The percentage of the cases of
kidnapping is highest that is 30 percent among the recorded cases
followed by the percentage of murder 20 percent, body injury or hurt 6
percent, rape 13 percent, domestic violence 2 percent, suicide 9
percent, sexual assaults 4 percent, burning/acid throwing 2 percent and
torture 6 percent. The report also points out the relationship of the
victim with aggressor. Almost 50 percent aggressors were husbands.
According to graph 73 percent cases are registered, 19 percent
unregistered while the number of unknown cases is 8 percent. The report
also takes into account the analysis of the motives behind the
incidents of violence.
Bus Driver’s Daughter
is New UN Rights Chief
United Nations Chief Ban
Ki-moon has appointed South African judge Navanethem Pillay to succeed
Louise Arbour as his High Commissioner for human rights. Ms Pillay, who
has been with the ICC since 2003, was picked from a short list that
also included prominent Pakistani lawyer and human rights activist Hina
Jilani and Argentine human rights lawyer Juan Mendez, according to
diplomats and UN officials. Navanethem Pillay, the daughter of a bus
driver, became the first non-white woman judge to sit in South Africa’s
highest court. Born in Durban in 1941
of Tamil descent, Pillay has built up a formidable reputation during a
legal career that stretches back over four decades, initially coming to
prominence back in 1967 when she became the first woman to set up
practice in the eastern Natal
(now KwaZulu Natal) province. She subsequently carved out a reputation
as a doughty defender of opponents of the whites-only apartheid regime
and a proponent of women’s rights. In 1973, she brought a successful
application against the authorities running the notorious Robben Island penal colony which
enabled political prisoners -- including Nelson Mandela -- to have
access to lawyers. In 1995, only a year after the collapse of
apartheid, Pillay made legal history by becoming the first woman of
colour to be appointed to the Supreme Court in South Africa. She first
came to wider international attention as part of the panel of judges
serving on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Under Pillay’s
presidency, the court handed down a landmark ruling in 1998 in which
rape was held to be a crime against humanity. She has been serving as a
member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), based in The Hague, since
2003. Pillay once admitted in an exchange with a South African judicial
service commission publication that she had struggled to be taken
seriously in her early years, especially as a woman, but would
eventually win over the doubters.
Women
& Media
Media Urged to Project
Truth
Media women, publishers
and journalists’ organization held a seminar titled ‘Responsibilities
and Limitations of Media’ on July 1. Addressing the gathering
Provincial Minister for Women Development Tauqir Fatima Bhutto said
that women in media play a pivotal role in the society. Their worth is
once known, as their work gets highlighted. Sultana Siddiqui said that
responsibilities and limitations cannot be detached from one another.
People who are involved with media must be responsible individuals;
because the image portrayed by the media is taken up by the common
people as the actual insight into a cultural background of a country.
Negative image only harms and distorts the truth. Images that have been
severed abroad highlights negative image of Pakistan, which is
definitely not correct. Mehtab Rashdi said that the changes are
coherently taking place in the country we live in. Interestingly, when
one rows up does it dawn upon them the worth of the word and meaning of
the word, ‘freedom of expression’? It must be cherished and not abused.
There was a time during Zia regime, when even Quran verses on tyranny
were censored. We though are an independent nation, we still need to
become a sovereign independent minded individuals. She said that
showing live deaths on the television screens was not a good thing to
do, media should not become insensitive to human sufferings. Erum Masud
said that media image and face is within us, but the main thing is how
we get to execute it. Channels airing such crude images should limit it.
Back to top
Democracy
Watch
Election Watch
Final EO Report of 65
Women Contested Constituencies Launched by The Researchers
The Researchers (TR)
launched a detailed Election Observation (EO) Report of 65 Women
Contested Constituencies on July 28. TR observed 65 national and
provincial assemblies’ constituencies that were contested by women in
General Elections 2008. It included 37 National & 28 Provincial
constituencies with 400 short and long term electoral processes
observers. Exploring “Gender Face of Politics” a comprehensive report
encompassing all phases of elections has been produced. This research
report is first-ever documentation of its kind not only in Pakistan
but in Asian region that observed elections with an exclusive gender
lens & women contested constituencies.
The highlights from
observed Women Contested Constituencies (WCC) are:
§
21% of the total
constituencies, i.e. 179, were Women Contested Constituencies (WCC),
i.e. 64 National Assembly (NA) and 115 Provincial Assemblies
§
195 women contestants in
total, 78 on party tickets and 117 were independents.
§
At the National Assembly
level, 15 women got elected out of 73 contestants. PPPP had 7 winners followed by 3 each belonging to
PML-N and PML-Q. 1 each got elected on MQM and independent ticket. No
women could make it to the National Assembly from NWFP and Balochistan
on general seat.
§
A total of 10 women got
elected at Provincial level against 122 contestants i.e. 8 out of 73 in
Punjab (5 PML-N, 1 each
from PPPP, PML-Q and one independent); In
Sindh 1 out of 28 was elected of PPPP; In Balochistan 1 out of 8 of
PML-Q was elected. In NWFP 11 women contested but none got elected.
§
There were 32 Independent
Women Contestants at NA level and 85 at PA level. One each at both
levels got elected i.e. Saima Akhtar Bharwana from NA-90 Jhang-V and
Robina Shaheen Wattoo from PP-188 Okara-IV.
§
16 women got elected on
both National and Provincial Assemblies’ reserved seats, 10 belonged to
PPPP and 6 to PML-N. 3 women contested both on reserved and open seats
i.e. Ms. Tehmina Daultana PML-N, Sumera Malik- PML-Q and Khushbakh
Shujaat MQM. They won general seats and vacated reserved seats. 9 women
losing on general seat, at NA and PA level, made it to the house on
reserved seat.
§
Political elite women
were majority party tickets holder as due to eligibility
criteria of education “men of the house” were out and opened vistas for
them
§
Ratio of contesting Male
to Female contestants was 5:1.
§
50% of contesting women
at NA level belonged to political household
§
In 50 of the observed
WCC, majority women were married
§
In WCC, their level of
education ranged between 2 PhDs to 33 Graduates & 20 of them having
a Master’s degree
§
Election finances were
not a problem for women of political households
§
The social standing of
these families could manage socio-cultural and socio-religio
effects/constraints for these women contestants but the same could not
be managed for female voters, polling staff, polling agents and
independent contestants that faced numerous issues.
§
Punjab was better off with
regard to women’s access to basic social services, even though falling
between moderate to low in absolute terms.
§
Religious views were
moderate as percentage of negative remarks in observed WCC
§
The most prominent female
party switchers among the previously elected women were Hina Rabbani
Khar, Firdous Ashiq Awan and Sughra Imam who switched from PML-Q to
PPP, while Shehzadi Umerzadi Tiwana joined PML-N from PML-O. Ms. Abida
Husain switched from independent to PPP and Dr. Saira Tariq, minority
reserved seat, joined PML-Q leaving PPP.
§
For 85% Election process,
campaign & canvassing was managed by men of the family having the
picture of leader of the party and men of the house more visible in
campaign material.
§
Media was extensively
used by political parties and contestants. However, Media coverage of
women in News bulletins for selected channels remained on an average of
20% with highest belonging to Geo and lowest to PTV. The coverage of
women’s political empowerment as in issue in current affairs programme
averaged 16% on Express TV while PTV ranked last did not give the issue
any coverage.
Detailed report is
available on following links:
www.theresearchers.org
www.wpaf.org
ECP to Recommend Ban on
Contesting More than One Seat
The Election Commission
of Pakistan (ECP) is likely to recommend the government pass a
legislation banning candidates from contesting elections from more than
one seat. An ‘Electoral Reforms Committee’ of the EC, formed a year ago
to propose reforms in the electoral process, would submit proposals to
the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry for legislation from parliament.
Headed by the EC secretary, the committee includes chief election
commissioners of the four provinces, four joint secretaries of the
federal EC, the commission’s director IT and the law section officer.
The committee has also held several rounds of meetings during the last
few months and is scheduled to meet again from July 14 for three days
in Lahore.
The committee is likely to propose that the practice of contesting
elections from more than one seat should be discouraged, as it is an
extra financial and administrative burden on the commission.
Elaborating the point, they said that of the 38 constituencies where
by-polls were held on June 26, 90 percent were constituencies that had
been vacated by more than one seat winners in the general elections.
They said the process was still continuing as some candidates had won
more than one seat in by-polls and polls in their vacated constituency
would be held again.
The committee is also
likely to recommend the government declare all Computerized National
Identity Card holders (CNIC) as eligible voters. The committee would
propose the government to consider every person holding a NADRA
computerized national identity card (CNIC) as an eligible voter and
abolish the practice of launching expensive voter registration drives,
which were a heavy burden on the national exchequer. It will recommend
the government to launch an awareness campaign urging the people to get
CNICs and inform NADRA if someone in their family dies so that his/her
name could be deleted from the automated data.
Several other proposals
were under the committee’s consideration, including changes in the
commission’s code of conduct and an increase in the maximum expenditure
limit of national and provincial assembly candidates in election
campaigns. Proposals to make postal ballot and compliant systems
effective were also being considered.
Currently, the EC has
fixed a limit of Rs 1.5 million for a National Assembly seat contestant
and Rs 1 million for the contestant of a provincial assembly seat. This
limit is considered irrational and the commission believes that it is
impossible to contest election within this limit.
The United Nations
Development Programme is sponsoring the electoral reforms process
through its Support National Election in Pakistan unit, which is
working with various non-governmental organizations for strengthening
the electoral system in the country.
Recommendations for
Electoral Reforms
Free and Fair Election
Network (FAFEN) released its recommendations for electoral reforms on
July 25. The recommendations were made on the basis of data gathered by
FAFEN’s more than 18,000 election observers who worked nationwide from
May 2007 to February 2008. Following are some of the recommendations:
§
Contestants should not be
allowed to contest elections from more than one constituency.
§
Stakeholders should be
consulted in case of any reforms in the code of conduct for political
parties and their candidates to contest election.
§
A clear mechanism should
be devised to enforce election related policies.
§
There should be combined
polling stations for male and female voters.
§
ECP should establish a
mandatory procedure for publishing election results from each polling
station before the official results are gazetted.
§
Election related laws
must be enforced on the Election Day.
All Election Information on
Cell Phones in Near Future’
ECP secretary Kanwar
Muhammad Dilshad said on July 5 that election information will soon be
made available to subscribers' cell phones. In a meeting at the Punjab
office of Election Commission he said, “This way, Pakistan will be the first
country in the world to provide such information and data online as
well as on cell phones.”
Punjab Provincial
Election Commissioner Javed Khurshid and IT Director Imran Ahmad Khan
briefed the secretary about the IT centre and the infrastructure being
established in the newly built building here at 10-Court Street. The
secretary was informed that a state-of-the-art infrastructure was being
procured for computerized electoral systems. Database maintenance,
backup strategy and disaster recovery planning are being evolved to
avoid any mishaps, such as data loss from the site. Dilshad said
efforts were being made to establish a sophisticated Information
Technology (IT) infrastructure at the ECP Secretariat and provincial
headquarters, which will bring a change in the electoral system of the
country. Dilshad said that Management Information Systems and
Geographical Information Systems are being installed which will bring
drastic changes in the electoral system of Pakistan to achieve the
objectives of transparency and accuracy.” He said that electoral rolls
are already available on the commission's website, and any voter can
search his name in the rolls by entering his CNIC number and voters
will also be able to locate their polling stations just by entering
their CNIC numbers.
Akbar Elected Senator from
Balochistan
Syed Akbar Shah won a
general Senate seat from Balochistan in a by-election held in the
Balochistan Assembly on July 11. The seat fell vacant after the
resignation of Sana Baloch of the BNP-Mengal in protest against the
military operation in the province. Mr. Shah belongs to the Balochistan
National Party-Awami and he was supported by the JUI-F. Awami National
Party also supported him and withdrew its candidate Abdul Jabbar Kakar.
Mr. Shah secured 23 votes, independent candidate Kohda Babar Baloch 20
votes and Mir Baz Khan Khatiran of Pakistan People’s Party 15 votes.
Sixty of the 65 members of the assembly cast their votes. Two votes
were declared invalid.
Government Watch
Parliamentary
Secretaries
Ministries
Allotted to New Parliamentary Secretaries
Prime Minister Yousuf
Raza Gilani has allotted ministries to 15 newly appointed parliamentary
secretaries in the federal cabinet. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)
Deputy Information Secretary Iqbal Sialvi confirmed the allotment of
the ministries to the appointed parliamentary secretaries. He said that
it was a ‘wise’ step of the PPP leadership and would help streamline
the working of the ministries.
|
S. No.
|
Parliamentary
Secretary
|
Portfolio
|
|
1
|
Mr.
Noor Alam Khan
|
Commerce
|
|
2
|
Ch. Saeed
Iqbal
|
Communication
|
|
3
|
Mr.
Sajjad-ul-Hassan
|
Finance
|
|
4
|
Nawab
Liaqat Ali Khan
|
Food and
Agriculture
|
|
5
|
Dr. Mahreen
Razaque Bhutto
|
Health
|
|
6
|
Mr.
Muzafar-ul-Mulk
|
Housing
& Works
|
|
7
|
Pir Haider
Ali Shah
|
Industry
& Production
|
|
8
|
Mr. Azeem
Daultana
|
Information
|
|
9
|
Capt. (R)
Rai Mujtaba Kharral
|
Interior
|
|
10
|
Mian Abdus
Sattar
|
Planning
and Development
|
|
11
|
Shaikh
Nauman Islam
|
Railways
|
|
12
|
Dr. Mehboob
Ullah Jan
|
Religious
Affairs
|
|
13
|
Mr. Ramesh
Lal
|
Tourism
|
|
14
|
Mir Dost
Muhammad Mazari
|
Water &
Power
|
|
15
|
Dr.
Zil-e-Huma
|
Women
Development
|
Rejoining Federal Cabinet –
Nawaz says no to Gillani
Prime Minister Yousaf
Raza Gillani, in an effort to expand Federal Cabinet with consultation,
telephoned PML-N leader Mian Nawaz Sharif, ANP leader Asfandyar Wali
and JUI (F) leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman on July 13. Nawaz Sharif
refused to rejoin the Federal Cabinet till the reinstatement of the
judges, sacked by President Pervez Musharraf last year. He also made it
clear that the PML-N would not join the cabinet and expressed no
reservations to give ministries to other coalition partners.
Coalition differences Halt
Legislation
The ongoing political
impasse between the coalition partners has brought the legislation
almost to a halt, and 15 bills are stuck in parliament due to delay in
the convening of a National Assembly (NA) session and non-functioning
standing committees. The deepening differences between PPP and PML-N
have hampered the legislative process in the parliament.
There were 15 important
bills pending before the house when its fifth session was prorogued. Of
the 15, five bills – the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill, 2007,
the Women in Distress and Detention Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2008, the
Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric
Power (Amendment) Bill, 2008, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority
(Amendment) Bill, 2008 and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory
Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2008 – were moved in the NA during its
session in April. Three bills – the Limitation (Amendment) Bill, 2008,
the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2008 and the Dowry and
Marriage Gifts (Restriction) Bill, 2008 – were moved in the upper house
of Parliament.
The government also moved
seven draft bills – the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill,
2008, the Companies Appointment of Legal Advisors (Amendment) Bill,
2008, the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2008, the
Federal Board of Revenue (Amendment) Bill, 2008, the Insurance
(Amendment) Bill, 2008, the Modaraba Companies and Modaraba (Floating
and Control)(Amendment) Bill, 2008 and the Criminal Law (Amendment)
Bill, 2008 – in its last session in June.
PPP should find New
Coalition Partners’
Former foreign minister
Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali has said the PPP and the PML-N do not agree even
on fundamentals and the party is wasting its precious time in trying to
develop consensus with the PML-N on key national issues.
Addressing a People's Lawyers Forum seminar on July
23, he said the alliance of the PPP with the PML-N would not survive
and the PPP should quit the alliance and find new coalition partners in
order to run the government affairs smoothly. Assef said the PPP and
the PML-N had joined hands to run state affairs with national consensus
but the PML-N, despite being in the government, supported the long
march and differed with the PPP on the issue of the judges'
restoration. He said the PPP wanted to save the country from crisis by
resolving all issues but there was a conflict between the coalition
partners on critical issues. He said the
lawyers' long march backed by the PML-N should have been against
President Musharraf and the Presidency but instead it targeted the
newly-constituted parliament. He said the PPP introduced a
constitutional package to resolve the national issues, including the
58-(2B) and the judges' issue.
ECNEC Reconstituted
Prime Minister Yousaf
Raza Gillani has re-constituted the Executive Committee of the National
Economic Council (ECNEC) with the Prime Minister as its Chairman.
According to a notification issued by the Cabinet Division, the members
are the ministers for Communication, Education, Environment, Finance,
Revenue, Economic Affairs and Statistics, Food, Agriculture and
Livestock, Health, Housing and Works, Industries and Production,
Information and Broadcasting, Information Technology and
Telecommunications, Inter Provincial Coordination, Local Government and
Rural Development, Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis, Petroleum
and Natural Resources, Ports and Shipping, Privatization and
Investment, Railways, Science and Technology, Social Welfare and
Special Education, Textile Industry, Water and Power, Women
Development, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Governor State Bank
of Pakistan, Provincial Finance Minister, Provincial Planning Ministers.
The other members by the
special invitation will be Chairman Planning and Development Board
Punjab and Additions Chief Secretary (Development) of Sindh, NWFP and Baluchistan. The Finance Minister, Planning
Minister, and Additional Chief Secretary (Planning and Development) of
the Azad Jammu and Kashmir will also
be its members. Chief Executive and Chief Secretary, Federally
Administered Northern Areas (FANA) and Additional Chief Secretary
(FATA), Adviser to Prime Minister on Interior and Narcotics Control,
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Industries and Production, Special
Assistant to the Prime Minister on Economic Affairs, Special Assistant
to the Prime Minister on Social Sector and Adviser ministry of Finance
and Revenue and Federal Secretaries of concerned Minister/Division will
be members. The Committee may invite such other officers to its
meetings as may be required from time to time. The Secretariat
assistance will be provided by the Cabinet Division.
Decision on Pakistani ISI
Control Reversed
The Pakistani government
has had to reverse its decision to put its powerful spy agency under
civilian control but is yet to explain its move. A BBC report says the
government has said it will clarify why it changed its stand only hours
after deciding to bring the Inter-Services Intelligence under the
Interior Ministry. The ISI, though supposed to be under the Prime
Minister's office, has been led by the country's powerful army, which
apparently intervened to force the new civilian government's reversal.
The ISI, over the years, has become so powerful critics contend it is a
state within a state. Some Western powers claim rogue elements in the
agency help al-Qaida and Taliban militants in Afghanistan, the report
said. In its original decision, the government had said the prime
minister had "approved the placement of Intelligence Bureau (the
domestic agency) and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) under the
administrative, finance and operational control of the (Interior
Ministry) with immediate effect ...," the report said. Hours later, the
government said it had only meant to re-emphasize "coordination
between" the interior ministry and the ISI in the "war on terror and
internal security."
Charge Sheet against
Government’s 100-day Performance
On July 3, the PML-Q
issued a charge sheet against the coalition government’s 100-day
performance, terming it “mismanagement and betrayal of the people of Pakistan”.
PML-Q parliamentary leader in the National Assembly (NA) Faisal Saleh
Hayat launched, at a press conference, the white paper titled “The
100-days betrayal, starring the coalition government”.
Faisal said not a single
promise made by the coalition government had been fulfilled during the
first 100 days of its rule. He said the ruling coalition was entangled
in petty issues leaving voters striving to make both ends meet. He said
the coalition was facing a crisis of leadership, and warned of serious
consequences if the process of democracy failed. “If the democratic
experiment fails we will be back to square one,” he said, adding that
the government must sense its responsibilities and live up to the
people’s expectations. “But for the withdrawal of cases and the
‘de-freezing’ of their assets under the National Reconciliation Order,
they have given nothing to the people so far,” Hayat said. He said that
his party would continue to play its role for the establishment of a
true parliamentary system and would not let the system derail. He
however said the main responsibility lies with the ruling coalition
whom the people have voted to power. Hayat maintained that his party
would continue to sit in the opposition even as the ruling coalition
breaks.
Sindh Government’s 100 Days
in Power – So far so Good, but Future still Full of Challenges: CM
Sindh Chief Minister Qaim
Ali Shah has termed the government’s performance in its first 100 days
as satisfactory, but feared that what he described as ‘over ambitious
elements’ that want to derail the system by misguiding people. Flanked
by Sindh Information Minister Shazia Marri and Home Minister Dr
Zulfikar Mirza, Shah gave the details of his government’s 100-day
performance at a press conference held at Chief Minister House on July
15. His special assistant on media and party MNA Roshan Junejo were
also present on the occasion. Junejo had hosted the commemorations for
the death anniversary of his father, Shahnawaz Junejo, a day earlier in
Sanghar, where Makhdoom Amin Fahim had criticized the PPP’s central
leadership and the government.
The Chief Minister was of
the view that the government could not resolve all the problems within
just a few days, but had either taken some steps or was planning to
resolve these problems. He mentioned that the people have more
expectations of this government than the previous one. He referred to
the government’s steps towards good governance, mentioning the
abolition of postings of bureaucrats at higher grades on OPS (Own Pay
Scale), end to re-employment, appointment of well reputed police
officers as DPOs and TPOs on merit, etc. He said that the government
has shown an 80 percent success in implementing the abolishment of OPS,
admitting that he still faces political pressure. He also talked about
the government’s plans for economic revival, employment and skill
development. Besides, due to government efforts, wheat flour is being
sold at Rs 24 per kg and the price is expected to further reduce within
a week to Rs 22. The CM and the home minister claimed that the overall
crime rate in Karachi
has been reduced by 30 to 35 percent, law and order in Lyari has
improved and honour killing in interior Sindh has been reduced by fifty
percent. Talking about law and order, the chief minister referred to
series of blasts on July 7 in Karachi
and said that investigation agencies are engaged in probing the
incident. Some people link the incident with ethnic problems, while
some say it is part of the on-going sectarian issue, while yet others
connect it to the situation in the tribal areas. Home minister Dr Mirza
went on to say that he is completely satisfied with the performance of
the police in Karachi.
Cell phone snatching has gone down by 38 percent and car snatching by
38 to 39 percent. Responding to a question, the chief minister defended
the federal government’s efforts to develop Thar Coal reserves, saying
that federal involvement is essential to guarantee foreign investment.
However, he expressed his reservations over the abolishment of the
Sindh Coal Authority and other laws made by the Sindh assembly. He
added that no provincial law or body should be abolished by the federal
government,” said Shah. He said that the federal government’s
notification has created confusion and it will be corrected.
Donors put Conditions for
Financial Support
Major international donor
agencies have asked Pakistan
to “put its house in order” to qualify for an increase in external
support. Informed sources told on July 26 that the International
Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
had told the government to achieve the much-needed stability, without
which they would not offer any ‘significant assistance’. Foreign
inflows of $2 billion, as promised by some donor agencies, could not be
achieved by the end of June because of the coalition government’s
failure to achieve political and economic stability. A special
reference has been made by the donors over the government’s failure to
timely pass on the increase in oil prices to consumers, further
complicating the economic situation.
Benazir Scheme to Support
3.6m Families
A meeting of the National
Steering Committee to discuss Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) was
convened under the chairmanship of Federal Finance Minister, Syed
Naveed Qamar on July 29. The meeting discussed strategy, implementation
mechanism, and disbursement criteria, financing of the programme and
the overall policy framework for execution of BISP, for which 34
billions have been allocated initially. The programme aims at providing
cash grant of Rs.1, 000/- per month to the economically stressed
families. The selection will be made through computerized NADRA
database and is likely to include 3.6 million families. CNIC will be
used as primary database and NADRA has been tasked to provide list of
eligible families/households at designated places during August. The
administrative cost estimates are expected to be at the level of 1-3
percent of total size of the Programme. NADRA will transmit lists of
eligible cardholders to BISP Programme Implementation Unit (PIU), DCOs,
Union Councils, Banks and Post Offices. The list of eligible
cardholders shall suitably be displayed. The BISP disbursement through
banks will be on the basis of individual bank accounts. The
disbursement shall be made through Post Offices where bank branches are
not available. A three-member Grievance Redressal Committee will be
constituted at Union Council levels to review grievances. The Committee
would comprise nominees of concerned MNA, MPA and UC Nazim. In
districts, District Grievance Redressal Committee will be formed
comprising concerned MNA, MPA, UC Nazim, and DCO will act as
Coordinator of the Committee.
Effect of Petroleum Prices
– 10 to 60% Increase in Prices of Kitchen Items
The unprecedented
increase in prices of petroleum products has affected the rate of every
item of daily use. A survey conducted by ‘The News’ on July 23 revealed
that the prices of different commodities have registered an increase by
10 to 60 per cent. The Pakistan Railways as well as transporters plying
buses and vans on long routes have also increased their fares by 8 to
16 per cent. Shopkeepers have increased the prices of most vegetables
by 15 to 50 per cent. Potatoes, which a couple of days back were
available at Rs20 per kilogram, are now being sold at Rs30 per
kilogram. Similarly, the price of tomatoes has also gone up. They are
now being sold at Rs54 per kilogram against their previous price of
Rs32 per kilogram. Onions are being sold at Rs22 per kilogram against
Rs16 per kilogram. Ginger is now being sold at Rs80 per kilogram
against Rs60 per kilogram. Pumpkin is being sold at Rs36 per kilogram
against Rs24 per kilogram. Turnip is being sold at Rs40 per kilogram
against Rs28 per kilogram. Ladyfinger is being sold at Rs30 per
kilogram against Rs18 per kilogram, ‘Shimla mirch’ (capsicum) is being
sold at Rs48 per kilogram against Rs30 per kilogram. ‘Karela’ (bitter
gourd) is being sold at Rs45 per kilogram against Rs30 per kilogram.
‘Baingan’ (eggplant) is being sold at Rs40 per kilogram against Rs34
per kilogram. ‘Phool gobi’ (cauliflower) is being sold at Rs36 per
kilogram, which was previously being sold at Rs24 per kilogram. The
prices of most fruit also witnessed an increase. The prices of mangoes
have increased from Rs60-80 against their previous rates of Rs40-50 per
kilogram. ‘Aaroo’ (apricot) is being sold at Rs40 per kilogram against
Rs30 per kilogram. ‘Jamun’ (black plum) is being sold at Rs100 per
kilogram against Rs80 per kilogram. Bananas are being sold at Rs80-100
per dozen against their previous price of Rs60-70 per dozen.
Due to an unprecedented
increase in fuel prices, bakers and confectioners have also increased
their rates. A small bread is being sold at Rs22 against its previous
price of Rs18. The medium size bread is being sold at Rs30 against
Rs25. The large size bread is being sold at Rs40 against Rs35. Biscuits
are being sold at Rs120-160 per kilogram. A couple of days back, they
were available at Rs80-130 per kilogram. Milkmen have also increased
the price of milk in twin cities. They are now charging Rs40-60 for one
litre of milk. A few days back, milk was sold at Rs35-55 per litre.
Milkmen Association President Riaz Ahmad Gujjar said “80 per cent of
milk supplied in twin cities is being brought from other parts of the
country. The sharp increase in POL prices has forced us to increase
milk prices, as we cannot afford to sell milk at old rates. The prices
of all brands of ghee and all kinds of pulses also witnessed an
increase of Rs10 to 20 per kilogram. The 5-kilogram tin of ghee, which
was available for Rs750 a couple of days back, is now being sold at
Rs790. Pulses, which were sold at Rs70-110 per kilogram, are now being
sold at Rs80 to Rs13 per kilogram. The price of meat has also
registered a sharp increase. Beef is now being sold at Rs150 to Rs170
per kilogram. Its price was Rs110 to Rs120 per kilogram a couple of
days back. Mutton is now being sold in the range between Rs280 to Rs300
per kilogram against Rs240-250 per kilogram. Al-Quresh Butchers
Association (Rawalpindi)
President Irshad Qureshi said “We bring animals from other cities. Now
transporters have started charging us Rs7,000 per trip instead of
Rs5,000 from Khanewal to Rawalpindi.
So we have no option but to trickle down the impact of these rising
charges to consumers.” District Price Control Committee Chairman Haji
Jamal told that it was difficult to maintain prices in current
circumstances. “Ever-increasing POL prices are damaging the whole
infrastructure of the country and wholesalers and retailers increase
prices of their commodities on their own.”
Election Commission asks
MPs to Submit Asset Statements by Sept 30
The Election Commission
(EC) of Pakistan
on July 23 called upon the elected members of national and provincial
assemblies to submit yearly statement of assets and liabilities of
their spouses and dependents. Chief Election Commissioner Justice
(Retd) Qazi Muhammad Farooq, in a statement, reminded the lawmakers to
comply with the rules by September 30. A cursory look at the lists of
those who made their way to parliament and the four provincial
assemblies makes it very clear that majority of these hail from
influential backgrounds. So much so, several of these elected public
representatives are sons, brothers, sisters and spouses of well-known
politicians. Therefore, it goes without saying that details of their
assets must be worth reading when published in the official gazette.
For instance, last year, in his statement of assets, the then leader of
opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman showed he did
not own a car. Filing of statements is a mandatory requirement under
Section 42A of the Representation of the People Act, 1976 and Section
25A of the Senate (Election) Act, 1975. Under Section 42A, every member
shall, on a form prescribed under Clause (f) of sub-Section (2) of
Section 12, submit a statement of assets and liabilities of his own,
his spouse and dependents annually to the commission by 30th day of
September each year. The statements of assets and liabilities submitted
under sub-Section (1) shall be published in the official gazette and
copies thereof may be obtained on payment of prescribed fee. By October
15 each year, the names of members would be notified who fail to file
statements of assets and liabilities within the period specified in
sub-Section (1) and by an order, direct that such member shall cease to
function till such statement is submitted. Where a member submits the
statement of assets and liabilities under sub-Section (1), which is
found to be false in material particulars, he may be proceeded against
under Section 82 for committing the offence of corrupt practice.
Meanwhile, the Chief
Election Commissioner has authorized the district returning officer,
returning officer and assistant returning officer appointed for
by-election in PP-107 Hafizabad-III, and the presiding officers
appointed for each polling station of the constituency to exercise the
powers of a magistrate first class under the Code of Criminal Procedure
1898 (Act V of 1898) on August 04, 2008, the day appointed for polling
for by-election, in respect of the offences punishable under sections
80, 82A, 83, 84, 85, 86 and 87 of the said Act and to take cognizance
of any such offence under any of the clauses of sub-Section (1) of
Section 190 of the said Code and to try any such offence in a summary
way in accordance with the provisions of the said Code, relating to
summary trials.
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Governance
at Large
Local
Government
Consultation
with Provinces starts: LG System’s Control
The National
Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) has started consultation with provinces
regarding handing over the control of Local Government (LG) system to
provincial governments.
NRB Chairman Dr Asim
Hussain said during a meeting with Car Wright, Secretary of the
Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) that since the local
government is a provincial subject, all local government initiatives
have to be fully owned by the provincial governments for smooth
implementation. He was accompanied by a two-member delegation of the
Local Government Association of United Kingdom. The NRB chief said that
based on the experience of seven-year working of local governments, the
NRB, in consultation with provincial governments, is now reviewing the
legal framework of local governments with a view to addressing the
implementation problems. The government has agreed, in principle, to
shift the control of LG system from Centre to provincial governments.
Presently, due to domination of coalition parties at the provincial
level and PML-Q at local government level, the LG system is all but
dysfunctional. An example is that the Rawalpindi District Government
has moved Lahore High Court, urging that the Punjab
government be barred from interfering in its affairs. Opposition leader
in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, has said that his
party will not allow the government to wrap up the LG system, which
replaced the 150-year-old magisterial system.
Government
set to Revive Magisterial System
The government is all set
to revive magisterial system in the country by abolishing or
marginalizing the current local government (LG) system. A Government
official told that the government is in principle ready to restore the
magisterial system and abolish the LG system. Most of the government
members think that the local governments have failed to ensure law and
order situation in the country. In case the LG system is allowed to
continue it will be made toothless. The official said that during a
meeting Federal Minister for Local Bodies Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour had
told the participants that all four provinces had consensus over
restoration of magisterial system to improve law and order situation.
As a follow-up to the meeting, a committee was formed to finalise
amendments in the Local Government Ordinance. Federal secretary local
bodies will head the committee.
The recommendations of
the committee will later be presented in the parliament for amendments.
The official said that most of the cabinet members and coalition
partners want the LG system out or at least cornered. There are more
issues than just the law and order problem. He said that the ministers,
especially the parliamentarians feel that district governments take
away credits for the development works and MNAs or MPAs are not given
due importance as was the case before the LG system. He said that once
the LG system is abolished or their powers are clipped, the MNAs and
MPAs will have more say in the development projects. The district
government comprises district nazim and district administration.
District nazim heads the district government and performs such
functions as have been assigned to him under the Local Government
Ordinance 2001.
Plan to Revive Magistracy
System: Nazims to Move PHC following NWFP
The stage is set for a
legal battle between district governments and the provincial government
as nazims from 13 districts of NWFP decided at a meeting on Thursday to
move court against the provincial government’s ‘interference’ in the
district governments’ affairs. The district nazims from 13 districts of
the province gathered at Kund rest house in Nowshera district on July
31 to devise a strategy for the protection of local government system
in the face of uncertainty surrounding the system as the provincial
governments have decided to revive the old magistracy system. The NWFP
nazims moot, which is the first important meeting of nazims since
coming into power of the new government, discussed the issues and
future of the local government system 2002 and decided to move Peshawar
High Court (PHC) against some issues in which, they say, the provincial
government is interfering. Nazims also formed a three-member committee
comprising District Nazim Peshawar Haji Ghulam Ali, District Nazim
Karak Rehmat Salam Khattak and District Nazim Mardan Himayatullah
Mayar. It will look into the issues being faced by the NWFP nazims and
would made arrangements for a grand convention of nazims to be held on
August 10 in Nishtar Hall Peshawar. Karak Nazim Rehmat Salam Khattak
told that the meeting’s basic aim was to mobilise nazims against the
moves being made against the local government system. He said that
postings and transfers should be made with consultation of the district
governments while the provincial and federal governments are constantly
ignoring them on these issues. “We are in consultation with our lawyers
and would move PHC within a week against these issues. He said that the
NWFP nazims would arrange a grand convention of district, town, and
tehsil nazims in Nishatar Hall Peshawar and after that another
country-level convention would be held in Islamabad.
During the convention
nazims observed that the local government system 2002 is in accordance
with the 1973 constitution and they have got all the political,
financial and administrative powers under the constitution. Nazims said
that they would react to any attempt to encroach on their powers as
their powers were according to the constitution which says that powers
would be delegated to grass roots level. Nazims from Mardan, Nowshera,
Shangla, Kohistan, Karak, Lakki Marwat, Abbottabad, Dera Ismail Khan,
Mansehra, Peshawar,
Swabi, Battagram and Haripur districts attended the meeting while those
from Tank, Hangu, Swat and Dir could not attend due to security
situation. Malakand nazim could not attend the meeting due to his being
injured. Nazims belonging to Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan
Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Jamiat
Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) attended the meeting despite the fact that
these parties are coalition partners either at the provincial or the
federal levels. However, these parties are ignoring the tone of their
nazims, which is becoming aggressive with each passing day against
their parties’ lines.
Bureaucracy
Conspiring against LG System: LCAP
The Local Councils
Association of Punjab (LCAP) has alleged that bureaucracy was hatching
conspiracy against the local government system by preventing district
governments from discharging their constitutional role. These views
were expressed by district nazims of 25 districts who attended the LACP
meeting on Wednesday. The participants vowed that they would go to the
last extent if any attempt was made to roll back the present system and
would also move court. They claimed that the bureaucracy was involved
in unconstitutional activities and was misleading the provincial
government. The meeting also discussed how to improve coordination
among federal, provincial and district governments. The participants
said the provincial government should accept the third tier (district
government) open heartedly. Instead of rolling back the system, the
lacunas of existing system should be removed, they maintained. They
also demanded that district ombudsman and internal auditors should be
appointed. The Public Safety Commissions should be activated, they
added. LCAP President and Tehsil Nazim Ladhran Asghar Hussian Shah
Gillani said after the meeting, that nazims shared their grievances
against the provincial government’s attempts to harass them by special
audits into the affairs of the local governments. He claimed that the
local governments were being prevented (by the provincial government)
from performing its duties. He also alleged that on the orders of the Punjab government, district coordination
officers were creating hurdles, which was in violation of the
Constitution. He urged the government to adopt a clear-cut policy on
local governments and ensure implementation of the Constitution. He
rejected the criticisms made on the local governments that these were
corrupt, involved in embezzlement and responsible for lawlessness,
saying these did not have financial powers and law and order did not
fall in their jurisdiction.
Hunt
for District Nazims Starts
Race for political
dominance in Punjab has started between the PPP and the PML-N, as both
the parties have intensified their efforts to take lead over each other
in terms of getting maximum number of district nazims to their side;
and to achieve this end, different pressures are being applied on them
including threats of brining no-confidence motions against them and
initiation of special audit of district governments’ accounts. The PPP
is going ahead in the competition so far by winning two district nazims
to its side. Rao Nasim Hashim, District Nazim, Pakpattan announced to
join the PPP last month, while District Nazim Sheikhupura, Mian Jalil
Sharqpuri joined the party. Sources in the PPP have claimed that a
batch of over a dozen more district nazims belonging to the PML-Q were
waiting in the wings to join PPP, but before their formal joining,
party would take the PML-N leadership into confidence. The PML-N is
also learnt to have geared up its efforts to have its share of the
district nazims. The Punjab
government’s latest move to conduct audit of district governments’
accounts is also being interpreted in this context. Some nazims are
also being coerced into joining the PML-N by hurling threats of
bringing no-confidence motions against them. Majority of present
district nazims are actually the PML-N turncoats who switched their
loyalties over to Chaudhrys of Gujrat in the absence of Sharif brothers
from the country.
Political analysts
believe that current race between the two parties to ‘capture’ district
nazims would lead to greater confrontation between the two in future
and the two sides would find it difficult to run coalition affairs in Punjab. Interestingly, some district nazims
themselves are eager to join the present ruling coalition, but they are
facing the dilemma as to which party they should join the PPP, which is
in power in the Centre or the PML-N, which is holding sway in Punjab. It is believed that they want to be part
of the ruling coterie to cover up their corruption. It merits
mentioning here that out of 35 present district nazims, 31 belong to
the former ruling party, the PML-Q, but only 14 of them are likely to
remain loyal to it because of their close relationship with the
Chaudhrys of Gujrat.
Punjab
Audit Reveals Massive Money Fraud
A special audit of only
60 out of a total of 144 Tehsil municipal administrations (TMAs) of the
Punjab reveals that in
just two years, from July 2006 to June 2008, a total of Rs 10 billion
have been misappropriated. The audit reports of the remaining 84 TMAs
for the same period are also being finalized amid serious apprehensions
that the detailed audit of the Punjab district and Tehsil governments
from 2001-2008 would possibly make President Musharraf's local
government system, introduced under his devolution plan, as one of the
biggest administrative and financial failures involving multi-billion
rupees irregularities in one province. The same report would also
possibly serve as a major charge against the PML(Q), which under
Musharraf's wings had ruled the country during all these years. The Punjab government is expected to complete the
special audit of all the 144 TMAs for the last eight years by the end
of the next month but the report of 60 TMAs for the last two financial
years reflects irregularities involving financial implications of Rs
9.6 billion.
The provincial cabinet on
April 23, 2008 had ordered special audit of all the Punjab local governments in the province since
2001, when the new system was introduced. The concerned authorities
were directed that the special audit should be lapse-free and completed
in a transparent manner. Once the audit exercise is completed, these
cases would be referred to anti-corruption establishment for proper
inquiry and corruption proceedings against those who would be held
responsible. Official documents reveal that those on top of committing
financial irregularities during the financial years 2006-06 and 2007-08
include TMA Rawal Town, Rawalpindi, with Rs 980 million, TMA Sargodha
(Rs 585m), TMA Mianwali (Rs 554m), TMA Potohar Town (Rs 391m) and TMA
Murree (Rs 314m), etc. The financial irregularities include the
categories of misappropriation, embezzlement, irregular payments,
procedural irregularities, excess/over payments, losses in own source
revenue due to misuse of authority, etc.
Break-up of the total Rs
9.6 billion misappropriated in the above 60 TMAs in two years, include
Rs 4.2 billion losses in own source revenue due to misuse of authority,
Rs 907m on account of excess/over payments, embezzlement of Rs 434m,
irregular payments of Rs 856m, and miscellaneous/procedural
irregularities worth Rs 3.1 billion. The auditors were asked to ensure
that the exercise of special auditor was accomplished meaningfully and
comprehensively and that it should not be taken as a routine exercise.
The Finance Secretary Punjab in a meeting, prior to the launch of the
special audit, had also stated that a third party would supervise and
validate these special audits of the Local Fund Audit (LFA) and any
lapse found in these special audit reports would be viewed very
seriously and may attract disciplinary action against the auditors and
the divisional director concerned. The auditors were also warned that
any collusion or other wrongdoing with auditee on the parts of auditors
would also be taken seriously.
District
Governments Empowered to Enforce MWA
The Punjab government is
learnt to have approved a proposal to empower the district government
to conduct raids, surprise visits of factories, industrial units, small
and medium units to ensure minimum wages of Rs 6,000 per month for
unskilled workers. The district administration would ensure the strict
implementation of Minimum Wages Act (MWA) of Rs 6,000 to the unskilled
workers of private commercial and industrial institutions working
within the jurisdiction of. The sources informed that Ministry of
Labour in a meeting said a notification to this effect had already been
issued to all the private commercial and industrial institutions to
ensure the payment of Rs 6,000 per month to the unskilled workers as
fixed by the government with effect from July 1, 2008. He said a
compliance report in this regard had also been called for from all the
private institutions by August 15. Moreover, teams consisting of labour
department officials have also been constituted for inspection of
private institutions in Multan and
other districts of Punjab to ensure
the implementation of Minimum Wages Act.
Restoration
of Deposed Judges
Lawyers
set August 14 Deadline
The All Pakistan Lawyers
Representatives Conference, on July 19, set August 14 as the deadline
for the government to restore the judiciary to its pre-Nov 3 status. In
case this does not happen, the conference unanimously decided that the
legal fraternity would intensify its struggle through a number of
protest strategies, including sit-ins across the country, including
outside parliament, stepping up the boycott of court proceedings,
blocking courtrooms, organizing countrywide marches and resorting to
civil disobedience. The National Coordination Council will meet on
August 15 at the High Court Bar Association’s Rawalpindi office if the
judiciary was not restored to its pre-Nov 3 status, to give a concrete
shape to these decisions, Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA)
president Anwar Kamal said, while talking to reporters after the
conference held at the Karachi Shuhada Hall of the LHCBA.
The conference passed
various resolutions to give a boost to the ongoing lawyers’ movement.
The conference vowed to continue the movement to its logical end ñ the
restoration of all the deposed judges. The conference held that the
parties that continued to remain in the ruling coalition after August
14 will be viewed by the legal fraternity as condoning the proclamation
of the November 3 emergency.
Good news
on judges soon: Prime Minister Yousuf
Raza Gilani on July 19 said he would soon give the nation some ‘good
news’ regarding the restoration of the deposed judges, just as he had
ordered the release of the judges in his first address after taking
oath as the Chief Executive of the country.
No
Need of Amendment to Restore Judges: LAWASIA
Mah Weng Kwai, President
of the Law Association for Asia and
the Pacific (LAWASIA said that there was no need for any constitutional
amendment to reinstate the judges of the superior courts. After meeting
deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry here at the Judges
Enclave, he said although the judges who took oath under the
Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) were working, but the judiciary
was still in crisis. He said independence of the judiciary in every
country should be the first preference. He said they would try to
understand the current situation in Pakistan and its impact on
the independence of judiciary and the legal profession. The delegation
would also meet bar leaders and the law minister to know their views on
the judicial crisis. Mah, who led a five-member delegation, arrived
here the other day at the invitation of the Pakistan Bar Council (PCB)
and will be in the country till July 21. According to a PBC spokesman,
the delegation’s visit was aimed at extending support to the lawyers’
community of Pakistan
for its continued struggle for the restoration of judiciary.
Sacked
Judges may take Fresh Oath: Naik
Federal Law Minister
Farooq H Naik said on July 3` that the sacked judges of the superior
courts could take oath under Schedule 3 of the Constitution and if they
did so, they would be given seniority as well as other benefits. He
said that the judges who had not taken oath under the Provisional
Constitution Order (PCO) on November 3, 2007 could now take oath under
Schedule 3 of the Constitution and they would be welcomed if they did
so. He said the judges who took the oath under the PCO, had again taken
the oath under Schedule 3 of the Constitution after the lifting of
emergency on December 15. He said the oath for sacked judges would not
provide any constitutional cover to the extra-constitutional steps
taken on November 3 last year when a state of emergency was imposed. He
said the draft constitutional package had been shared with the
coalition partners as well as the Pakistan Bar Council and the Punjab
Bar Council, however their recommendations on the package were still
awaited.
National
Trade Policy 2008-09
Government
announces Trade Policy 2008-09
The Federal Cabinet, in a
special meeting chaired by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on July
18, approved the Trade Policy 2008-09, which seeks to increase the
country’s exports to $22.1 billion while maintaining its imports at $30
billion. Presenting the policy on state-run media, Commerce Minister
Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar said the government sought a 15 percent increase
in the country’s exports. He said the meeting had agreed to allow the
import of 136 additional types of raw materials, machinery and
transport fuels from India
to facilitate export-oriented industries. The payment of customs duty
and sales tax on precious gems has been abolished to increase exports.
Similarly, import of machinery for mining and grinding of minerals has
been allowed from India
to promote export. The government has also allowed the import of
10-year-old and used buses and cement bulkers for use by industrial
consumers.
Highlights
of Trade Policy 2008-09
Following are the salient
features of Trade Policy 2008-09 announced by Commerce Minister Ahmad
Mukhtar.
The export target for the
fiscal year 2008-09 has been fixed at $22.10 billion, which represents
a growth of 15% over the last year's exports worth $19.22 billion.
§
The total merchandise
exports for the year 2007-08 were $19.22 billion with a record net
increase (between 2006-07 and 2007-08) of $2.246 billion.
§
The total imports during
the 2007-08 amounted to $39.97 billion giving rise to a trade deficit
of $20.7 billion.
§
The underlying causes for
this year's trade deficit were mainly the increase in oil prices
raising its import bill to over $11.3 billion as against $7.3 billion
last year; import of wheat at higher than previous prices; increase in
price of palm oil from $502.7 PMT to $839.3 PMT; raw cotton imports due
to crop shortfall; increase in import of machinery and increase in
import of fertilizers and chemicals.
§
This year again the
imports compared to last year have increased by $9.428 billion whereas
exports have also increased by $2.246 billion.
§
Plant, machinery and
equipment imported to setup a unit in DTRE scheme will be exempt from
duty and taxes.
§
Inputs in DTRE will also
be allowed to be imported from India,
even if these are not included in the importable items from India,
or manufactured locally.
§
The period of retention
of raw material and components for export under temporary importation
scheme (SRO 1065) may be increased from current 12 months to 18 months
i.e. at par with DTRE.
§
It has been decided to
increase the draw back rate by 1% of FOB value for 14 products i.e. (i)
Tents, Canvas & Tarpaulin, (ii) Electric machinery, (iii) Carpets,
Rugs, & Mats, (iv) Sports Goods, (v) Footwear, (vi) Surgical
Goods/Medical Instruments, (vii) Cutlery, (viii) Onyx manufactured,
(ix) Electric Fans, (x) Furniture, (xi) Auto Parts, (xii) Handicrafts,
(xiii) Jewelry and (xiv) Pharmaceuticals .In order to facilitate the
exports, the government has decided to introduce a new scheme where by
a notified percentage of inputs may be allowed to be imported at zero
duties against fob value of exports with flexibility to import any
product among the notified list in any quantity within the overall
entitlement of the exporter.
§
It is proposed to allow
the temporary import of PET bottle scrap for manufacture and export of
PSF in the DTRE scheme, subject to non-hazardous certification.
§
It has been decided to
support the setting up of new pharmaceutical plants by providing it
with the incentive of having an accelerated depreciation allowance
facility of 90pc in the first year on investment in Plant Machinery and
Equipment.
§
It has also been decided
that Ministry of Health will draw up a proposal for establishing
bio-availability and bio-equivalence laboratories in the National
Institute of Health.
§
Export of free samples up
to 5% of quantity is allowed against exports in the preceding year to
pharmaceutical exporters.
§
In order to further
facilitate exports in this sector it has now been decided to allow
exporting companies to send free samples to the extent of 10% of the
commercial quantity exported in the preceding year.
§
In addition
pharmaceutical sector would also be allowed to retain 15% of their
export proceeds.
§
To increase the exports
of gems and Jeweler sector, and to encourage investment and remove all
anti-export biases, gold, silver, platinum, palladium, diamond and
precious stones be exempted from levy of customs duties & sales tax.
§
It has been decided that
import of machinery / equipment for mining /quarrying and grinding of
minerals (along with spares) would be allowed from India.
Governance
& HR Issues
The
State of Pakistani
Children 2007 – Report by SPARC
A report titled ‘The
State of Pakistani Children 2007’ was launched by the Society for the
Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) on July 23 that gives an
account of key developments and challenges confronting children, and
intends to improve understanding of different problems.
SPARC Executive Director
Qindeel Shujaat said that poverty stricken children were being
exploited in the name of religion, and those who deny this truth should
take notice of children who took part in the Lal Masjid siege. He said
that there are clear indications of the continual role of a few
madrassahs in the recruitment of children for political activities;
however child militancy is prevalent in tribal areas of Sindh and
Balochistan as well.
The report has six
well-defined portions including the chapters of violence,
education, health, juvenile justice, disaster and child labour.
It revealed that despite
getting almost 17 per cent of the total international aid given to
three countries, Pakistan
is called the ‘home of illiterates’ and account for 27 per cent of the
world’s out of school children among with other two countries in the
region. It said that with growing poverty, the number of child
labourers threatens to climb thus putting more and more children in to
abusive and exploitative situation. The chapter on children in prisons,
paints a grim picture and reveals that juvenile offenders’ population
in all the jails of Pakistan
is around 1,800 but varies between 2,100 and 2,200. Among them over 60
per cent are under trial, not more than 20 per cent are actually
convicted and over 30 per cent are in dire need of legal assistance. It
also highlighted that Pakistan does not have a
Child Protection Bill, which means that the children affected by
emergencies and disasters are not legally protected.
Pakistan
Lacks Adequate System of Child Labour Statistics
Pakistan still lacks an adequate
national system of child labour statistics which could provide reliable
quantitative information on the number of working children. The
children’s geographical and sectoral/occupational distribution, age,
sex and other relevant characteristics are also not available.
Statistics on various socioeconomic characteristics, especially those
attributes that are related to the development of the child into a
responsible adult member of the society, such as education status and
achievements, the time allocated to various non-school activities, the
income or expenditure level of the household to which the working child
belongs, and important aspects of participation by children in economic
activities and its impact, should also be generated to permit the
analysis of the economic and social situation of particular groups of
working children.
The Population Census
which the government plans to hold in October this year will provide an
ample opportunity to planners to gather information on child labour.
Gathering of essential data would help design intervention policies
specifically aimed at combating child labour, and at monitoring and
evaluating progress in the implementation of action programmes. The
last national child labour survey was carried out in 1996, two years
before the national census conducted in 1998, and since then the
country’s population has risen by over 30 million people. The survey
conducted by the Federal Bureau of Statistics had found 3.3 million
children in the five to 14 years age group to be economically active on
a full-time basis. The International Labour Organisation (ILO), in a
new report, has called for national statistical programme on child
labour in all its member states including Pakistan. Indicators
relating to nature of work, circumstances and harm therefore should be
core elements of a national statistical programme on child labour, the
ILO recommends. The statistical programme should also provide baseline
information on the reference child population engaged in what
Convention No. 138 terms ‘work or employment’, of which child labour is
a subset. National statistical programmes should also collect detailed
information on working hours as an important proxy for the potential
harmfulness of work. While limited light work is not necessarily
detrimental to a child’s health and need not interfere with formal
education, long working hours, on the other hand, are likely to have
more serious health and developmental consequences on the child, the
report says. Long hours mean greater exposure to workplace hazards and
less time available for children to exercise their rights to education
and leisure. Information of child labour in the so- called
‘unconditional worst forms’ is an especially important and challenging
component of a national statistical programme on child labour.
These forms of child
labour constitute fundamental violations of human rights, and obtaining
information to facilitate their elimination is therefore an immediate
priority. The report says national statistical standards have to
respond to the need of national users who wish to obtain information on
the nationally prohibited forms and situations of child labour. Child
labour is widely recognized as a major hindrance to achieve the
Education For All (EFA) goals. A large number of child labourers are
denied the fundamental opportunity to attend school, while those who
combine work with schooling are often unable to fully profit from the
education on offer. The latest UNESCO statistics show that 75 million
children of primary school age were out of school in 2006, compared to
a staggering 103 million in 1999. Incidence of children’s work also
declined during that period. While still about one sixth of the total
child population ages five to 14 - 191 million children - were involved
in some kind of economic activity in 2004, there were some 20 million
fewer working children in this age group than there had been four years
earlier. The ILO’s most recent global report on child labour emphasised
the important contribution that action against child labour can make to
the Education For All process. Yet, it also noted that the objectives
of the latter will only be achieved if child labour concerns are
effectively mainstreamed into the EFA monitoring and promotional
efforts. Much remains to be done in this respect. Quite significantly,
the report described the EFA and child labour movements as ‘two ships
passing in the night’. Children living in rural areas attend school
less than their urban counterparts regardless of their working status.
This is an expected result given that, in most cases, economic pressure
to engage children in working activities is higher in the rural areas.
In rural areas working children face a considerable school attendance
disadvantage vis-à-vis non-working children.
Child labour not only
represents a severe obstacle to school attendance, it also interferes
with the educational performance of children who combine school and
work. Street children, child beggars, child porters, child rag-
pickers, child scavengers and child domestic workers are the worst
forms of child labour and require government’s plan of action to curb
them. In bazaars, streets and traffic signals children are forced to
beg either by parents or by the mafia after being trafficked. The ILO’s
International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) was
providing technical and financial support to pilot programmes and to
strengthen the institutional capacity of the executing agencies. Major
strategies include enhancement of educational opportunities for working
children through the launching of crash literacy programmes for school
dropouts and introducing apprenticeship, vocational and skills
development programmes.
Donors’
News
WB to
provide $294.7m for Power and Water Projects
The World Bank on July 14
pledged to provide $294.7 million to Pakistan for an electricity
distribution improvement project and a water sector capacity building
and advisory services project. In this regard Pakistan and World Bank
signed two agreements for electricity distribution and transmission
improvement project of worth $256.7 million and water sector capacity
building and advisory services project of worth $38 million. Acting
Secretary Economic Affairs Division Junaid Iqbal Chaudhry on behalf of
the Government of Pakistan and World Bank Country Director Yousapha B
Crookes signed the financing agreements for both projects. The project
agreements for the electricity distribution and transmission
improvement project were signed by the representatives of NTDC, IESCO,
LESCO, MEPCO and HESCO on behalf of the respective entities. The
Electricity Distribution and Transmission Improvement Project (EDTIP)
will assist the distribution and transmission companies in
strengthening the capacity of the distribution and transmission network
to meet the increase in electricity demand more efficiently and with
better reliability and quality. The project will also strengthen the
institutional capacity of power distribution companies and support
priority areas of the power sector reform through components included
investment in distribution networks, investment in transmission
network, institutional strengthening and capacity building and energy
efficiency.
The objective of the Water Sector Capacity
Building
and Advisory Services Project (WSCAS) is to improve the management and
investment planning of water resources in the Indus River System
through components included capacity building and support of federal
institution in water resources planning and management, improvement in
water resources management and development in WAPDA, Project management
and additional studies. This process will run concurrently with the
national plan to develop hydel storage and power infrastructure. Acting
Secretary, Economic Affairs Division Junaid Iqbal Chaudhry told
journalists that the soft IDA amount of $52.6 million in EDTIP and $38
million in WSCAS is interest free, however the service charges at the
rate of 0.75% and commitment charges at the rate of 0.5% on undisbursed
balance will apply. He said EDTIP also contains hard IDA for an amount
of US$ 30.5 million on which an interest at the rate of 4.2% per annum
will be paid, in addition to the service charges and commitment
charges.
Repay: He said that the
Government of Pakistan would repay both the IDA credits in 35 years
including a grace period of 10 years. For the IBRD loan portion in
EDTIP of $173.6 million, a front-end fee will be paid at the rate of
0.25% of the loan amount, and the interest will be paid at the rate
equal to LIBOR for the Loan Currency plus the Fixed Spread. The IBRD
portion will be repaid in 30 years including the grace period of five
years. World Bank Country Director Yousapha B Crookes said that the
Bank remained involved in different development projects with the
Government of Pakistan and was now involved in power distribution area,
which is very important for revenue generation. He said development in
this area is important for productivity in the country besides
providing quality electricity service to the people.
USAID
gives Hardware worth $450,000 to ECP
On July 22, United States
Agency for International Development (USAID) gave information
technology hardware worth $ 450,000 to the Election Commission of
Pakistan (ECP) to help the commission improve, update, and maintain the
computerized electoral rolls.
USAID Pakistan Mission
Director Anne Aarnes said that the importance of accurate electoral
rolls cannot be overstated. He said that the hardware USAID is
providing will improve the ECP's capacity to ensure the integrity of
the electoral rolls. The hardware, which is part of USAID's $18 million
Pakistan Electoral Support Project, will be installed in the ECP's
offices across the country and will allow the commission to make
updates efficiently and accurately. USAID has trained ECP's
newly-recruited information technology staff. Since 2006, USAID's
Pakistan Electoral Support Project, implemented by the International
Foundation for Election Systems, has worked closely with the ECP on
voter registration issues. The project developed Pakistan's first
computerized election rolls; designed training for 45,000 voter
registration officials; and provided transparent ballot boxes for the
2008 elections.
UNDP
to help Reduce Poverty – SPRSM Project
‘UNDP’s support to the
Government on reviewing and analyzing public spending and allocations
in pro-poor sectors through a gender lens will go a long way in
understanding the needs of men and women and addressing them in a
gender-sensitive manner’ stated Ms. Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Special
Assistant to the Prime Minister of Social Sectors at the launching
ceremony of the UNDP-Supported Strengthening Poverty Reduction Strategy
Monitoring (SPRSM) project by the Ministry of Finance (MoF). Also present on the occasion were Mr. Farrukh
Qayyum, Finance Secretary and Mr. Fikret Akcura, Resident
Representative, UNDP.
The 5-year project
constitutes UNDP’s support to MoF under its MDG – Driven Pro-poor
Policy Package (MP-3) for instituting a comprehensive mechanism for
monitoring the targets setout in the PRSP-II framework. The project is
being implemented under a cost-sharing agreement with the MoF with the
latter contributing US$ 0.641 million to the total budget of US$ 6.487
million. UNDP’s contribution stands at US$ 0.750 by UNDP. The resource
gap stands at US $ 5 million. The project works to devolve monitoring
poverty results to the provincial level. A key effort will be to link
poverty expenditures with results, to enable policy makers determine
the best use of Pakistan’s
resources that target the poor and the vulnerable sections of the
society. To move in this direction the SPRSM project will build
capacities at the federal and the provincial levels for tracking
pro-poor indicators. Commenting on the need for a devolved poverty
monitoring system, Mr. Fikret Akcura, Resident Representative, UNDP
stated, ‘The problem of poverty indeed represents a serious and
pressing challenge. Addressing this challenge requires not only
resources and capacity but also sustained and devolved institutional
structure for monitoring and analysis of development results. Therefore
the role of the provinces is critical.’ Furthermore, in order to
address gender-needs, the MoF has decided to mainstream the tools
developed by the UNDP-supported Gender Responsive Budgeting Initiative
in the overall PRS monitoring system. The purpose being that policy
makers are informed on the disaggregated impact of poverty expenditures
on men, women, boys and girls and take effective fiscal measures to
address these gender gaps. These will be implemented across all tiers
of government including the district level. In the same vein, SPRSM
under the MP-3 umbrella programme is building institutional linkages
with the Center for Poverty Research and Social Policy Development
(CPRSPD) for pro-poor research, analyses and social policy development.
Similar linkages will be developed with the Pakistan Millennium
Campaign pipeline project for open state citizen interface on pro-poor
spending and their results. These linkages and the substantive inputs
extracted from GRB tools and PRS monitoring indicators will be
mainstreamed into the Government’s pro-poor policy monitoring system, a
step forward for enhancing transparency and accountability in the
pro-poor spending processes.
WB
Refuses to Fund Diamer-Basha Dam
The World Bank has
categorically refused to fund water and power projects in Azad Jammu
and Kashmir (AJK) and the Northern Areas (NAs), including the
Diamer-Bhasha Dam. The bank's refusal to
provide funds has virtually endangered the practicability of the Bhasha
Dam on whose feasibility and technical reports huge amounts have
already been spent since 2006. Water and Power Minister Raja Pervez
Ashraf, Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) Chairman Shakeel
Durrani, officials of the Planning Commission, the finance ministry and
the Economic Affairs Division attended the meeting held at the Water
and Power Ministry on hydropower generation and water resources. The
meeting was told that the WAPDA required $30-40 billion for the
projects, including the Bhasha Dam and others in the next 15 years to
meet the growing electricity requirements through cheap power.
The document, available
with this correspondent, states that the water and power minister,
concerned with the World Bank's refusal to fund Wapda's projects in the
AJK and the Northern Areas, made an observation on this occasion that
we had to live with these constraints. It was proposed that a study may
be undertaken whereby one fourth of the amount required be provided
through the PSDP and surcharge on electricity consumption, one-fourth
through suppliers credit and DFIs, one-fourth be raised through the
market/loans and one-fourth through private sector stocks sale and
investment. The Planning Commission and the Economic Affairs Division
and the finance ministry would coordinate the issue of raising the
finances, it reads. The six-page document consists of the Wapda
chairman's briefing on the overall water and power scenario, the
Economic Affairs Division officials’ update about refusal of funds by
the World Bank, financial resources for the water and power sector,
views of the provincial governments, small dams construction and
ignorance of hydropower projects.
Surveys/Reports/Strategy
Papers
SBP
Launches 10-Year Strategy
Dr Shamshad Akhtar,
Governor State Bank of Pakistan, has said that SBP is launching a
ten-year Financial Sector Strategy with an explicit objective to help
country achieve higher and sustainable economic growth; develop a
dynamic, robust and stronger banking system; mobilize the domestic and
foreign resources for private investment and deepen the financial
penetration for poor and underserved regions. She made this
announcement while addressing the Development Finance Conference on
'Expanding Frontiers of Financial Access in Pakistan' organized by SBP
at its Learning Resource Centre in Karachi on the eve of 60th
anniversary of the State Bank of Pakistan. The conference, which was
inaugurated by the Prime Minister, was attended by Sindh Governor Dr
Ishratul Ibad, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Federal Finance
Minister Syed Naveed Qamar, Federal Minister for Labour, Manpower and
Overseas Pakistanis Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, Special Assistant to
Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs Ms Hina Rabbani
Khar and Special Assistant to Prime Minister Ms Shahnaz Wazir Ali.
Dr Akhtar said that the
objectives of the Financial Sector Strategy will be to broaden and
deepen the financial system to help Pakistan to: Achieve higher and
sustainable economic growth; Develop a dynamic, robust and stronger
banking system; Mobilise the domestic and foreign resources for private
investment (which has to be the key driver of the economy), and deepen
financial penetration for the poor and underserved regions. She said
that prerequisite for financial sector growth, however, is
macroeconomic and political stability and augmentation of the enabling
policy environment in the real sector.
SBP Governor said that
the strategy would be financially inclusive, supporting the small
savers and meeting the requirements of small borrowers in the
agriculture, housing, SME and microfinance sectors.
It would aim to modernize the wholesale and retail
markets and reduce the systemic risks of the financial system by
developing an adequate safety net for the small depositors, while
reforming the regulatory architecture to ensure that the central bank
can play an effective regulatory and supervisory role. No reforms are
complete without also ensuring further strengthening of the central
bank, she said and added that in this context, the State Bank has
worked to modernize the central bank legislation in line with the
international best practices.
Dr Akhtar shared with the
audience major areas of reforms envisaged in the Financial Sector
Strategy. The strategy advocates:
§
Adoption of a holistic
financial inclusion programme.
§
Strengthening consumer
protection and financial education.
§
Consolidating and
strengthening the banking sector by promoting continued mergers and
acquisitions, while seeking to restructure the outstanding public
financial institutions.
§
Strengthening competition
and efficiency.
§
Strengthening prudential
regulation and supervision.
According to the findings
of a survey, conducted by the US-based International Republican
Institute (IRI) between June 1 and 15, about 86 per cent of the
respondents believe that Pakistan is heading in a
wrong direction while only 12 per cent think the direction is right.
According to the survey, 83 per cent of the respondents want the new
government to remove Gen (Retd) Musharraf from Presidency. A majority of
67 per cent people said they supported the election of nuclear
scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan as the country’s next President while 15 per
cent said they did not.
Most
Popular Leader: With the decline in Mr.
Musharraf’s popularity and after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto,
PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has emerged as the most popular leader in the
country, with 82 per cent saying they like him and only six per cent
saying they do not. This is up from 36 per cent in June 2006, when he
trailed both Mr Musharraf and Ms Bhutto. Likewise, Mr Sharif easily
dominated the ‘best leader for Pakistan’ category, being
the choice of 38 per cent, leaving the competition far behind.
Interestingly, Dr A.Q. Khan is at number two (with 76pc) and deposed
chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz
Sharif sharing the third position (with 65pc) on the list of favourite
personalities.
Musharraf’s
Declining Support: The poll found that
President Musharraf’s job approval rating had dropped significantly.
Only 11 per cent said they approved of his performance while an
all-time high of 75 per cent saying they did not. In the IRI’s June
2006 poll, President Musharraf was the most popular leader in the
country, with 52 per cent saying they liked him. In the June 2008 poll,
only nine per cent said they liked the president. When asked which one
leader was the best person to handle the country’s problems, President
Musharraf was the choice of only three per cent. When asked if they
thought President Musharraf should resign, an all-time high of 85 per
cent answered in the affirmative, up 10 points from the last poll. In
addition, 79 per cent said they would feel better about the future of
the country if Musharraf was out of office. Likewise, Musharraf’s
allies also find themselves in an unpopular position. Only eight per
cent of the respondents said they liked PML-Q leaders Pervez Ilahi and
Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.
Government
Performance: When asked to rate
various institutions, 85 per cent said they had a favourable impression
of the government, making it the most popular institution. This is in
sharp contrast to the 29 per cent rating that the previous government
had received. When asked how had the government performed on issues
important to them, 41 per cent responded positively and 51 per cent
negatively. Despite the fact that a majority rated the government’s
performance as poor, this represents a significant drop from the last
rating achieved by the old government. In the February poll, 80 per
cent rated the old government’s performance poorly while only 18 per
cent rated it positively. When asked if they felt that things would get
better in Pakistan
now that there is a new government, 52 per cent replied yes and 20 per
cent said no.
Economic
Situation: When asked about their
personal economic condition over the past year, 12 per cent said it had
improved, 72 per cent said it had worsened and 16 per cent said it had
remained the same. When asked if they felt their economic wellbeing
would improve or worsen during the coming year, 19 per cent said it
would improve, 46 per cent said it would worsen and 21 per cent felt it
would remain the same. When asked to choose their most important issue
from a list, 71 per cent cited inflation, 13 per cent unemployment and
five per cent poverty. This represents a total of 89 per cent of the
population citing economic concerns as their top priority.
Restoration
of Deposed Judges: Pakistanis are also
unambiguous when it comes to restoration of the deposed judges.
Eighty-three per cent said they wanted the judges to be reinstated.
When asked how important this issue was to them, 86 per cent described
it as important.
War on
Terror:
In the last poll, conducted in the wake of both Ms Bhutto’s
assassination and some suicide bombings, 12 per cent selected terrorism
as their top issue and six per cent law and order. In the June poll,
however, the issue barely resonated; two per cent cited suicide
bombings and less than one per cent chose Al Qaeda as a top concern.
While 61 per cent said they felt that religious extremism was a serious
problem in the country (down 12 per cent), only 45 per cent said Al
Qaeda and the Taliban were a serious concern, a 20 point drop since
February and an all-time low since the IRI started asking the question
last September. Further, the number supporting the army fighting in the
NWFP and tribal areas dropped six points to 27 per cent. When it comes
to solutions for combating extremism and terrorism, the poll reveals
that the Pakistani people are unambiguous, preferring negotiations and
development to military options. When asked if they supported political
dialogue with extremists, 71 per cent responded yes while 65 per cent
said they supported a peace deal. When asked what they thought was the
most effective way to deal with terrorism, 61 per cent said economic
development and education, nine per cent said military force and 24 per
cent said both.
Popularity
of Leaders: Among the PPP leaders,
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani saw a large increase in his
popularity, with 64 per cent saying they liked him, up from 23 per cent
in the last poll. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also saw an increase in his
popularity to 61 per cent, up from 55 per cent. Likewise, PPP
co-chairman Asif Zardari also saw his popularity rise from 37 per cent
to 45 per cent. And while Makhdoom Amin Fahim saw his popularity drop
from a high of 67 per cent in the wake of Ms Bhutto’s assassination, he
remained popular with a rating of 49 per cent. It is interesting to
note that his rating is still higher than Mr Zardari’s.
1,080
Pak Soldiers among Thousands Killed in Terror War
According to the data
complied by The News from articles, web sites, magazines and
newspapers, and after talking to the official spokesman of the Pakistan
Army, over 3,050 Pakistanis have been killed in terrorist attacks since
September 11, 2001 while the same number of militants have also died in
different operations conducted by Pakistan Army. The war on terror has
cost over 3,000 Pakistani nationals since 9/11 and the ISPR has
confirmed that 1,080 Pakistani soldiers have been martyred to get their
country free of terror. Almost 3,500 militants have faced death while
the number of injured amounts to more than 5,000 in all terrorist
attacks since Pakistan
joined the war on terror. Pakistan faced some 81
suicide attacks since it became the frontline state in the war on
terror. The sectarian incidents that took place in the country in the
last seven years would add more to the figures if included.
Around 660 people have
been killed in terrorist attacks in the first half of 2008, mostly in
NWFP. These attacks mainly include the ongoing war in the tribal areas
of Pakistan.
Fifteen suicide attacks have already occurred in the country in the
first half of the year. These attacks mainly include attack on naval
college in Lahore, attack on FIA
building in Lahore and attack on
medical personnel in Rawalpindi
and a suicide attack on a funeral in Swat. The Pakistan Army has also
started operation in NWFP against militants who have been bombing the
girls’ schools and killing the spies in the mobs.
The year 2007 proved to
be the goriest for Pakistan
when some 1,500 people were killed in different terrorist attacks
across the country with hundreds of soldiers abducted and many others
killed. Some 2000 militants have also been killed in the tribal area
during the year. Statistics show 46 suicide attacks occurred in the
country while other attacks include 250 mainly in the tribal areas. The
suicide bombing deprived the country of Bhutto and many others. The
famous Lal Masjid siege now also became the leaflet in the history of
2007 where hundreds of seminary students, including girls ten Army men,
were killed.
From 2001 to 2003, some
181 people were killed in terrorist attacks. This also features an
attack on President Pervez Musharraf in Rawalpindi on December 25, 2003.
During this period the Christian community remained the main target of
the terrorists in Bahawalpur, Murree,
Textile, Islamabad
and Daska. Famous journalist Denial Pearl was also killed on February
22, 2002 while twelve French Nationals were killed in Karachi on May 8,
2002.
Back to top
Geo-Political Dynamics
Pakistan’s
External Relations
Kashmir-Related
CBMs Endorsed in Delhi
Talks
The Kashmir-related
confidence building measures (CBMs) were endorsed in the Pak-India
talks on July 21. Triple entry permits would be introduced with effect
from Oct 1, 2008. A separate form for the purpose has been agreed. All
three entries are to be made from the same crossing point. The facility
will be automatically available to senior citizens and their spouses.
The Rawalakot Deputy Commissioner and the Jammu regional passport officer would
be authorities for the Rawalakot-Poonch bus service, with effect from
Oct 1, 2008. Monthly coordination meetings between authorities will be
held, with the provision to convene urgent meetings, whenever required.
Crossings will stand enhanced to sixty people per crossing. Steps will
be taken to cut the processing time for applications on both sides. The
operation of the Tithwala-Chiliana crossing point will be effective
from May to November every year, in view of accessibility problems in
the winter. A crossing on the Uri-Hajipir will also be facilitated.
Authorities will start exchanging application forms by e-mail from
October 1, 2008. E-mail transfers will be backed up by hard copies. In
a case of emergency (death of a close relative across the LoC),
clearance will be processed within a week. Stay in such cases will be
for up to seven days. It will be effective from October 1, 2008. The
frequency of Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Pooch-Rawalakot bus services
will be increased from fortnightly to weekly, with effect from August
21, and August 25, 2008, respectively. Designated authorities will
reconcile data on crossings regularly. Lists of commodities to be
traded with a zero-tariff regime were also exchanged. To begin
implementation, each side will indicate items which they are willing to
receive. The visit of chambers of commerce people from both sides of
the LoC will take place as early as possible to make recommendations
for trade modalities.
Afghanistan
Boycotts Meetings with Pakistan
Afghanistan lashed out at Pakistan on July 14, alleging that its
intelligence service and Army are behind the bloody Taliban-led
insurgency, calling Pakistan’s
security forces the “world’s biggest producers of terrorism and
extremism”.
In protest of what it
called “direct interference in its internal affairs”, Afghanistan
said it is suspending its participation in three upcoming meetings with
Pakistani officials. Afghan President Hamid Karzai directly accused Pakistan’s
intelligence agency of being behind a recent series of attacks by
militants that have killed scores of people. Karzai said in a
statement: “The murder, killing, destruction, dishonouring and
insecurity in Afghanistan
is carried out by the intelligence administration of Pakistan,
its military intelligence institutions. We know who kills innocent
people. We have told the government of Pakistan and the world and
from now on it will be pronounced by every member of the Afghan
nation.” Karzai’s statement was, however, one of the harshest with the
two neighbours officially trying to repair a relationship strained by
mounting extremist violence. Karzai also referred to a suicide attack
that targeted police in southern Uruzgan province that killed 24
Afghans, most of them civilians in a bazaar, police said. He also
condemned the Taliban’s killing in Ghazni province the same day of two
women whom the militants alleged were prostitutes and worked for the
police.
The cabinet announced,
meanwhile, that Afghanistan
would boycott a series of upcoming meetings with Pakistan unless “bilateral
trust” was restored. The statement accused the Inter-Services
Intelligence of involvement in a number of recent attacks in the
country, an attempted assassination of President Hamid Karzai in April,
the July 7 suicide bomb attack outside Indian embassy in Kabul that left
over 60 people killed and a spate of suicide bombings and roadside
bombs blamed on Taliban militants. Inter-Services Public Relations
(ISPR) Director-General Maj-Gen Athar Abbas, declined to comment,
referring a request for reaction to the foreign ministry. Foreign
Ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq, who was in London
en route home from an official visit to the United States, was not
immediately available for comment.
PM’s
Visit to Unite States
Bush Supports Pakistan’s
Sovereignty, Democracy
Prime Minister Yousaf
Raza Gilani and President George Bush, on July 28, discussed enhancing
cooperation in economic and security fields with the U.S. leader declaring Washington’s strong support for democracy in Pakistan
and cooperative efforts in the fight against terrorism along Afghan
border. “Pakistan
is a strong ally and a vibrant democracy. The United States supports the democracy
and supports the sovereignty of Pakistan,” Bush stated in
his post-meeting remarks as both leaders reaffirmed their common
commitment to fight against terrorism.
In a joint appearance
with the Pakistani leader, Bush hailed Pakistan as a strong ally
and described the meeting as “good and constructive.” Washington, he
emphasized, respects “sovereignty of this (Pakistani) democracy” and
acknowledged the Pakistani leadership’s strong commitment to fight
against terror. Prime Minister Gilani renewed Islamabad’s commitment to curb
extremism and emphasized that an overwhelming majority of Pakistanis
across the country including the tribal areas want to live in peace. He
said it is only a handful of people who stir up trouble. In the
regional perspective, the two leaders discussed ensuring security on
Afghan border and observed that Prime Minister Gilani wants “a peaceful
country on its (Pakistan’s)
border.
After making press
remarks the two leaders went to luncheon hosted in honor of the
Pakistani leader.
Bush said that we’re
going to spend a lot of time on the economy, about how the United States and Pakistan can continue to cooperate
to—for economic benefits for all the people of Pakistan, and for our own
country, for that matter,” Bush said. Assisting
the Prime Minister at the Oval Office meeting were Foreign Minister
Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Information Minister Sherry Rehman, Defense
Minister Ahmed Mukhtar, Advisor to the Prime Minister Rehman Malik,
National Security Advisor Mahmud Ali Durrani and Pakistan Ambassador to
the United States Husain Haqqani. The US side included Vice
President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, National
Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and White House Chief of the Staff
Joshua Bolton.
Elections
in Bangladesh
New
Laws Allow Bangladeshis to Cast ‘No’ Ballots
Authorities in Bangladesh,
on July 14, introduced new measures to keep politicians in the
notoriously corrupt country on their toes, including allowing voters to
reject all the candidates in an election. The so-called “no” votes are
part of preparations for national polls in December which will mark the
restoration of democracy after nearly two years of rule by an
army-backed government. Chief government spokesman Syed Fahim Munaem
said in a statement that voters in a constituency can cast ‘no’ votes
if they don’t like any of the candidates. He said that if “no” votes
account for more than 50 percent of the total ballots counted in one
constituency, the result will be invalid. In previous general
elections, voters have been required to vote for someone even if they
do not like any of the candidates. Other election rules approved by Bangladesh’s
interim cabinet include capping the amount candidates can spend on
election campaigns. Individuals can spend 1.5 million taka (21,866
dollars) and parties can spend up to 45 million taka, while no
individual donation to a candidate can exceed 20,000 taka. The new laws
will also bar people convicted of corruption from standing for up to
five years. Those convicted of other crimes and sentenced to jail terms
of more than two years will also be banned from running in elections
for five years. The move effectively seals the fate of scores of
political leaders, ex-ministers and law-makers who have been convicted
on corruption charges by the country’s emergency courts. Loan
defaulters and convicted war criminals are also be barred from
contesting polls. The emergency government has said the new laws are
part of reforms to the existing electoral system and aimed at making
sure democracy is cemented in a country where corruption is rampant and
elections frequently rigged.
Bangladesh Completes Voter List
Bangladesh has cleaned up and
completed a voter registration list ahead of elections in December.
Election Commission officials said they recorded the identities,
photographs and fingerprints of more than 80 million voters in less
than one year at a cost of $65 million. The new list dropped “fake
names and duplicate entries”, one election commission official said.
The previous list had more than 90 million voter names, many of them
found to be fake in fresh registration held with the help of the army.
The completion of the new voter list was an achievement for the interim
government which took office in January last year vowing fair and free
elections by the year’s end. The interim government, which cancelled
elections in January last year and then announced emergency rule,
embarked on a massive clean-up of local politics in preparation for the
year-end voting. Earlier it introduced new election rules making it
compulsory for political parties to register to take part, and giving
voters the chance to reject all candidates if they thought none were
suitable. Fakhruddin Ahmed, the head of the army-backed government said
the demand for an error-free voters’ list with photographs was almost
universal.
Bangladesh
President’s Powers in Question
Bangladesh's President Iazuddin
Ahmed is now in a critical situation. The Supreme Court has declared
that the President has no constitutional authority to impose any rules
that are not related to calling a general election as long as there is
no Parliament in the country. Also, the media has exposed a "canal
scandal" by members of the President's family, alleging abuse of power.
The situation has given rise to questions as to whether the President
will remain in office, and who will replace him in the coming days? On
July 13, after a long hearing, the High Court passed a verdict in a
case challenging the legality of an ordinance on Muslim marriage
registration and divorce. Three senior lawyers submitted arguments as
friend-of-the-court briefs. The court ruled that the President, as head
of an unelected caretaker regime, has no authority to impose an
ordinance that is irrelevant to an election. The court declared such an
action to be beyond the powers granted the President by the
Constitution, and thus null and void. The High Court's decision has
already been challenged by the military-controlled government before
the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. Therefore the people must
wait for the issue to be resolved at the highest level of the judiciary
- which has already created controversy by abdicating its own
constitutional power to consider granting bail to people arrested under
the current government's emergency laws. However, the High Court's
decision has already shaken the government's policymakers and raised
questions concerning the legality of some 77 ordinances passed since
the State of Emergency
was proclaimed on Jan. 11, 2007. The President has been giving his
consent by default to ordinances drafted by the military-controlled
government, regardless of the necessity and legality of these so-called
laws. Adding to the President's woes, a Bangladeshi newspaper published
a report on July 23 alleging that part of a canal in the capital city
of Dhaka has been permanently leased to
the President's wife, Professor Anowara Begum, who is the chairperson
of the governing body of the British Columbia School
situated adjacent to the canal. The process of leasing the submerged
land was initiated by the president on Nov. 2, 2006 - less than 48
hours after he took the oath of office as chief adviser of the
caretaker government on Oct 31.
Ever since the President
took over the office of chief adviser - equivalent to the Prime
Minister - of the caretaker government, there have been debates
concerning the legality of his move. The two recent incidents have
brought the President's relationship with the law into further
question. First, if the 77 ordinances imposed by the president under
the military-controlled regime are illegal, what happens to the orders
and decisions taken under those ordinances? Emergency powers laws have
been used to arrest, detain and implicate hundreds of thousands of
persons in Bangladesh;
what will happen to the victims of these illegitimate ordinances? Who
will be held responsible for such a disaster? How will the responsible
persons and officials be brought to justice and punished, or will they
be given amnesty? The second issue concerns the President's own
position. Iazuddin Ahmed completed his five-year term in office on
Sept. 5, 2007, but since there has been no Parliament to elect a new
President, he has simply continued in office. Ahmed's critics are
putting pressure on him to step down as a result of the "canal
scandal." To take responsibility for his actions, he should hand over
the office to the speaker of the Parliament, Jamir Uddin Sarkir,
according to the Constitution. Another group of critics suspects that
army chief Moeen U Ahmed wishes to hold the office of president, even
though in public he denies this. Some even suspect that this ambition
was behind the approval of the canal deal in June 2007.
Indian
Politics
Indian
Coalition Government Survives Vote of Confidence
India’s embattled coalition
government survived a chaotic parliamentary confidence vote on July 22,
clearing the way for it to forge ahead with a civilian nuclear energy
deal with the United
States. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
won the backing of 275 deputies against 256 who opposed his
Congress-led government, mainly left-wingers and Hindu nationalists,
speaker Somnath Chatterjee said at the end of a raucous session.
Singh needed just a
simple majority to survive and see through the last year of his
mandate. Had he failed, the world’s largest democracy would have headed
into early elections — with his opponents emboldened. The result came
after a tense hand-count of some votes that apparently were not
properly recorded by machine, and a furore over opposition allegations
that the ruling coalition paid out large sums of cash in bribes to
ensure its win. The deal gives the government the green light to move
forward with a pact with Washington
designed to bring India
into the global loop of nuclear commerce after decades of international
isolation.
BJP
Expels 8 MPs after Government Wins Vote
India’s main opposition
movement, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on July
23 expelled eight of its MPs who switched loyalties in a government
confidence vote. The vote was triggered by left-wing parties who
withdrew their support for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s coalition
government over a controversial nuclear energy agreement with the United States.
Despite a tight race, Singh’s government won with a comfortable margin
amid furious opposition allegations that the coalition had bribed MPs
to vote in their favour in order to see through its last year in
office. The party said that eight BJP legislators who either abstained
or voted in favour of Singh’s government have been expelled. Opposition
leader Lal Krishna Advani told a news conference that all those who
have violated the whip have been expelled. He said that three BJP MPs
created a furore in parliament ahead of Tuesday’s vote by waving
bundles of money they alleged had been offered to them for abstaining
to help the government win. The new opposition bloc consists of four
left-wing groups and six other regional parties, who say they can
provide an alternative to both the ruling Congress and main opposition
Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The parties identified
inflation, the nuclear accord and farmer suicides as the main issues
for their campaign ahead of national elections, which are due anyway by
May 2009 at the latest.
Nepal in
Post-Election Scenario
Nepal
elects its first President: Maoists Suffer Setback
Lawmakers in Nepal
voted in the Himalayan nation’s first post-royal President on July 21,
but their rejection of a candidate backed by the Maoists was likely to
lead to more political deadlock. Ram Baran Yadav, who was supported by
the centrist Nepali Congress party, won 308 out of 590 votes cast in Nepal’s
constitutional assembly in a run-off between him and Maoist-backed
rival Ramraja Prasad Singh. The selection of a President has been seen
as a vital step to ending weeks of political impasse after the assembly
ousted unpopular king Gyanendra and abolished the 240-year-old monarchy
in May. But the result showed other parties in the assembly ganging up
against the Maoists -- who won the largest single block of seats in
elections to the new assembly earlier this year but not an outright
majority. Yadav, a former Health Minister and trained medical doctor,
told that he would use his new position to try to unite Nepal and
address grievances among the country’s ethnic communities.
Nepal
Maoists set Conditions to Form Government
Nepal’s Maoists, on July 25,
offered to reverse a decision to boycott forming a government in a
compromise that could steer the newly republican country out of a new
political crisis. The former rebels, who won the most seats in recent
elections to a Constitutional Assembly but not a majority, had said
they will not form a government because their choice of President was
rejected by rival lawmakers. The presidency is a largely ceremonial
position but the Maoists say having a rival in that position would
paralyze their government and ambitious reform agenda. But Maoist
spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara offered a compromise to the impasse,
which has left Nepal
without a government. He told that one of the conditions is we want a
written commitment from the other political parties that they will not
be involved in the forming and ousting of the government once we lead
the government, for at least two years. The other conditions were that
rival parties agree to allow the Maoists to push through a “minimum
programme,” and that the three main rival parties dissolve their
alliance. The former rebels want to overturn what they view as a wider,
“feudal” caste-ridden system, and have vowed to bring revolutionary
land reforms in the Himalayan nation. Minendra Risal, a senior Nepali
Congress party official said that we are always ready to move forward
with politics of consensus. The Maoists tried to go alone, tried to
dictate to other parties and they suffered defeat in the presidential
vote.
Case
Registered against Nepali Vice-President for taking Oath in Hindi
A writ petition has been
registered at the Supreme Court Friday against newly-elected Nepali
Vice President Parmananda Jha for taking oath in Hindi instead of the
national language Nepali. Advocate Bal
Krishna Neupane filed the writ at the apex court demanding rejection of
the oath taken by Jha and asking him to re-take it in Nepali language
or be expelled from the post. Meanwhile, different affiliated parties,
organizations and student unions continued massive protests in Nepali
capital Kathmandu on July 25 against
Jha's use of Hindi while being sworn in as Vice President on July 23.
The agitating students have charged that the vice president who
represents the whole county ignored the national language and took the
oath in the Indian language. Vice President Jha had taken the oath of
office and secrecy by translating it into the Indian language even
though President Ram Baran Yadav had administered it in the Nepali
language.
Nepal
President asks Maoists to Form Government
Nepal’s President has invited
former Maoist rebels to form the first government in the world’s newest
republic in a bid to end weeks of political deadlock, according to a
statement by President’s office on July 30. President Ram Baran Yadav
gave the Maoists seven days to form the administration. Political
wrangling has left Nepal
without a formal government since it became a republic in late May
after abolishing its monarchy. The President “has called on the Maoists
party to forge a political consensus for the appointment of the Prime
Minister and formation of Council of Ministers within seven days. The
former rebels, who won more than a third of seats in polls, later said
they were willing to lead a new administration as long as certain
conditions were met. Those included demands for a guarantee from the
other three main rival political blocs that they would make no attempt
to topple their government for at least two years. They also want rival
parties to agree to allow them to push through a “minimum programme”
that includes revolutionary land reforms. The other parties had earlier
expressed reluctance to accept Maoist demands. “Our party has already
decided against the demands made by the Maoists. They are not in a
position to make such demands,” said Nepali Congress general secretary
Kul Bahadur Gurung.
Nepal
Parties allow PM to attend SAARC Summit
Nepal’s major political
parties decided on July 30 to allow the Caretaker Prime Minister to
take part in a regional conference in Sri Lanka. Girija Prasad
Koirala, who resigned earlier this month but is continuing as head of a
caretaker government, has been cleared to fly to Colombo for the South Asian
Association of Regional Cooperation summit. Koirala met leaders of the
main political parties and convinced them to let him lead the Nepalese
delegation. Bhim Rawal of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist
Leninist) said since there was not enough time for a new Prime Minister
to take office it was decided to allow Koirala to lead the Nepalese
delegation.
Southeast
Asia
Arroyo
asks MPs to stop Polls in Muslim Areas
Philippine President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has formally asked lawmakers to speed up
legislation postponing elections in Muslim areas in the south to boost
talks with rebels, her peace adviser said on July 30. Manila and the
11,000-member MILF agreed a deal for a homeland for around three
million Muslims in the south of the largely Catholic archipelago last
week, but the agreement is no guarantee of a formal peace deal, which
faces many hurdles. One challenge is that there is an existing Muslim
homeland in the southern region of Mindanao,
created from a previous agreement with another rebel group in 1996.
Arroyo wants to postpone elections in this six-province Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) because a deal with the MILF will
create a new, larger political structure. But while her allies in the
lower house of Congress have filed two bills seeking the postponement,
members of the upper house are opposed to the move arguing that they do
not know what has been agreed with the MILF.
US
Presidential Elections
US
Presidential Election – 51 percent Americans see Obama winning
According to Fox News
poll, a majority of Americans believe that Democratic candidate Barack
Obama will win the presidential election against Republican hopeful
John McCain in November. While 51 percent say Obama, who is vying to
become the first African American President, will win the election,
only 27 percent are betting on a McCain victory. Voters registered as
Democrats are more confident about their candidate’s chances than their
Republican peers. 71 percent of Democrats see Obama winning on November
4 while 51 percent of Republicans believe McCain will win. One in four
Republicans think that Obama, a senator from Illinois, will succeed US President
George W Bush. A month ago, 47 percent of Americans believed that
Obama, 46, would win the election compared to 32 percent for McCain, a
71-year-old Arizona
senator. Even though many Americans are predicting an Obama victory,
the race remains tight. In a head-to-head matchup, Obama leads McCain
41 to 40 percent among registered voters, the poll showed. If
Libertarian candidate Bob Barr and independent hopeful Ralph Nader are
added, Obama leads McCain by 40 to 37 percent. If Obama chooses former
Democratic nomination rival Hillary Clinton as his running mate and
McCain picks former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, a former
Republican candidate, the Democratic ticket leads 48 to 39 percent.
The
survey was conducted between July 22-23 among 900 voters. The margin of
error is plus or minus three percentage points. While the race remains
close, Obama is struggling to convince many Americans of his
commander-in-chief mettle after serving in the US Senate for only three
years. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll out Wednesday showed that
55 percent of Americans believe Obama would be the riskier choice for
the presidency compared to 35 percent for McCain, a Vietnam war veteran.
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