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“Dirty Thar Coal Versus Environment Friendly Kalabagh Dam in Pakistan
& South Asia”.
• It is very strange to note that present Government of Pakistan is advocating for Air Polluting Thar Coal Project Versus Environmental Friendly Kalabagh Dam.
• Kalabagh dam which will increase the water resources of the country is being opposed while Thar coal project, which will consume huge amount of water and will contaminate all water, air and land resources of Pakistan is being advocated by the government.
• Clean electricity produced by Kalabagh dam will be available to every citizen of the country while Thar coal project will pollute all water, air and land resources of not only of Pakistan but also of neighbouring countries like India and China.
• Thar coal will effect each and every living organism while environment friendly Kalabagh will not only store water for the cultivation of land , but also will produce clean energy without carbon emmision, by that electricity it will be possible to pump out under ground water which will also increase water resources and will store water for cultivation of land, Kalabagh Dam will increase wet land for fisheries, will increase green land which will be helpful in decreasing environmental carbon dioxide produce by coal and other fuels and will control flooding and erosion of land and will save lives and lands of people.
• Coal is one of the most polluting sources of energy available, jeopardizing our health and our environment. While Kalabagh Dam will have multiple advantages and will act as clean electricity power house, Sweet water reservoir and floods controller all these things will improve fertility of lands, will reduce poverty and will increase food production.
The Effects of Coal on the Environment.
Coal as a source of energy is probably the most environmentally damaging of
all the traditional sources of energy.
• One must keep in mind that a typical power coal plant generates 3 million tons of CO2 or 17 tons of carbon per megawatt and draws about 2.3 billion gallons of water per annum from nearby source while on land coal produces mercury which not only renders water useless for human consumption but also for irrigation purpose as well.
• “Coal Power in a Warming World” by Barbara Freese et al, published by the Union of Concerned Scientists in October 2008 states that “The underground mining of coal is a dangerous profession, and underground and surface mining are both highly damaging to landscapes, water supplies, and ecosystems”.
• The Natural Resources Defense Council paper entitled “Coal in a Changing Climate”, issued in February 2007 claims that “Coal mining—and particularly surface or strip mining—poses one of the most significant threats to terrestrial habitats in the United States.”
• Figures from “Key World Energy Statistics: 2008″ show that coal is responsible for 42% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions.
• “Coal in a Changing Climate” shows that coal produces large amounts of airborne toxic chemicals, including sulfur dioxide, mercury, nitrous oxides, arsenic and lead.
• Coal is a highly polluting energy source. It emits much more carbon per unit of energy than oil, and natural gas. CO2 represents the major portion of greenhouse gases. It is, therefore, one of the leading contributors to climate change.
• From mine to sky, from extraction to combustion — coal pollutes every step of the way. The huge environmental and social costs associated with coal usage make it an expensive option for developing countries.
• Coal mining is responsible for acid drainage from coal mines, polluting rivers and streams, to the release of mercury and other toxins when it is burned, as well as climate-destroying gases and fine particulates that wreak havoc on human health, COAL is unquestionably, a DIRTY BUSINESS.
South Asia.
On one side China and India are planning to curb the Carbon emission by curbing the use of oil, coal and other fossil fuels, and Bangladesh and Maldives are crying for taking measures against rise of seas due to global warming and melting of glaciers and on other side Government of Pakistan is planning to use Thar coal which will not only cause global warming but also pollute the whole environment of South Asia but in fact will endanger the life of 3 Billion peoples living in China, India, Kashmir, Northern areas, NWFP, PUNJAB and Sindh, as the direction of smoke and dangerous gases will be from east to north west of Pakistan. And people of these areas will suffer from respiratory diseases such as Asthma, Bronchitis, Cardiovascular diseases and cancer, and people of these areas will suffer from dangers and adverse effects of smoking without smoking the cigarettes.
Government of Pakistan is leaving no stone unturned for sinking delta dwellers people of Bangladesh and Island dweller people of Maldives under sea by wasting about 10 Million Acres feet water of River Indus from the catchments area of whole of Pakistan in the sea and is not preserving and storing that water in dams like Kalabagh and Basha, on one side people of Pakistan are suffering from acute wastage of water and electricity and on other side Government is wasting sweet water in the sea which is not only causing sea rise and erosion of coastal land for whole of subcontinent, including Bangladesh and Maldives but is also harmful for saline habitat fishes and saline and sea plants like Mangroves
Countering Rise in Sea level and Global Warming.
Global Warming:
For countering global warming there is need to completely restrict use of coal for any purpose and to minimize other fossils fuels such as oil and gas and use of alternatives resources such as wind, solar and water power by means of dams like Kalabagh and Basha Dams in Pakistan should be encouraged and preferred.
Rise in Sea Level.
For countering rise in sea level following measures should be taken to save and to protect from submerging the people of Bangladesh, Maldives and other Island dwellers under sea.
• All the rain and glaciers water on land should be preserved and stored in reservoirs and dams like Kalabagh and other dams for use on land( For Agriculture, Electricity generation and human consumption) and other purposes so that no water should waste in sea which will ultimately cause the rise in sea level.
• In Coastal areas use of sea water should be increased as much as possible for Industrial and agricultural purposes.
• After desalination and Purification Sea water should be use for human consumption as much as possible.
• Wastage of sweet water and fertile silt in sea should be prevented and should be used for fertilization and irrigation of land and other useful purposes.
• There should be maximum utilization of sea resources such as exploration of silt and stones from sea towards land and coastal areas.
• There should be maximum utilization of sea resources such as exploration of sea salts for use as chemicals and other purposes.
• There should be maximum utilization of sea resources such as sea plants such as algae and fishes to decrease the volume of sea so that rise in sea could be countered by each and every mean available.
Already Polluted Atmosphere of South Asia.
South Asia is already suffering from the adverse effects of Brown cloud(Accumulation of Dirty gases in upper atmosphere of Subcontinent and is having negative effects on the health of population of India and Pakistan , Moreover there is already shortage of Ozone gas in the upper atmosphere of South Asia, due to which people of South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka ) are not having perfect healthy bodies as compared to other races of the world, .In view of such a bad condition of atmosphere burning the coal is just like to throw the people of Pakistan into valley of death, where as there already so many poor workers are daily dying in the coal mines of Balouchistan, but no one is having any care about those poor workers.
There are a number of adverse environmental effects of coal mining and burning, especially the glaciers of the Himalayas, Karakoram, Hindukush and Pamir ranges in Gilgit-Baltistan contribute significantly to the stream flow of the Indus Basin. More significantly, during the dry season these glaciers become the system’s only source. Impacts due to climate change on these glaciers have been studied in recent decades and vivid fluctuation of water flow in the Indus River Basin System has been reported.
Conclusion:
Due to flow of toxic gases and smoke from Thar Coal towards North and Western Pakistan, It is the responsibility of Jammu and Kashmir, Northern Areas, NWFP, Punjab and Sindh Governments to review the adverse effects of Thar coal as it is the matter of life and death of the people of these areas. As unhealthy environment due to smoke and toxic gases will destroy the beauty of land of Kashmir and Gilgit and Baltistan and will cause health problems such as cancer, asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory and genetic diseases due to environmental pollution in the people of Punjab, NWFP, Kashmir, Gilgit and Baltistan. Thar coal will destroy the fertility of land and will pollute the water resources of the country.
It is the responsibility of Governments of China ,India, Bangladesh, Maldives, Kashmir and Provinces of Pakistan to persuade Federal government of Pakistan not to use Dirty coal while many dams may be constructed for generation of clean energy in Pakistan like Kalabagh and Basha Dam, it is necessary as government of Pakistan is wasting its only Indus River sweet water( 10 Million Acres Feet Water )in the sea while on the other side common people of Pakistan are suffering from the thirst and hunger due to shortage of water and electricity.
Written By:M.AKRAM KHAN NIAZI.
Karachi, Pakistan.
Email:akrumniazi@hotmail.com
If the grand design of the Manmohan Singh government is to forge peace with Pakistan as a liberating step in our sub-continental rivalry, India should surely be more understanding of Pakistani sensitivities in Afghanistan and its larger paranoia. Can a nation which has been done in once in the past, of course largely by its own blunders but also with some strategic help from India (the creation of Bangladesh), afford on its Western borders a government which is seen to be kowtowing to India?
Much of this haranguing about strategic depth is nothing but a desperate desire in Pakistan for a friendly dispensation on its West, so that it is free from the fear of being destabilized from the rear. India’s good friend Hamid Karzai himself has alluded to the reality of the triangular matrix by describing Afghanistan and Pakistan as “conjoint twins” with India being a mere “friend.” In the dance for influence and power, therefore, why not gracefully allow the “twin” a larger role? Unless of course there are overwhelming compulsions of national interest, in which case we must recognize the prevalent hardball, take necessary risks and act with far greater persuasion and resolve so as to apply soft and hard power in an appropriate mix to get a foothold in the emerging power dynamic.
The problem with India’s posture is that we seem to be shying away from the existing realities and simply hoping that economic engagement alone will secure our interests. It takes some strategic innocence to aspire for influence in a country as dangerous, conspiratorial and bloody as Afghanistan, without being willing to muddy our boots. And it is plainly ridiculous to expect Mr. Jayant Prasad and a lone military attaché to match the power and guile of Jallaluddin Haqqani and Shuja Pasha. If we seek greater influence in Afghanistan, we need to recognize the salience of military drivers therein and leverage our capacities accordingly. And if we are unwilling or unable to do so, simply and gracefully stay out. The reason we seem to be falling in between two stools is because we seek influence while being unwilling to take attendant risks (reiterating our resolve to stay engaged times without number, without spelling out as to how precisely we shall secure our interests).
India’s engagement in Afghanistan has been based on a set of soft choices – economic, infrastructural, developmental and humanitarian assistance (an estimated 4000 Indians are involved in the reconstruction effort with an investment of 1.3 billion dollars) with security guarantees coming from the Karzai government and its infantile tools. We eschewed a more deterministic military role for ourselves, even though short of direct military committal we could have done much more to shape the security dynamic in Afghanistan. We could have opted for greater involvement – through some direct military diplomacy and a broad based training commitment for instance (a stake in the planned training of 300,000 ANA/ANP personnel by 2013 is of course a gargantuan challenge but also a huge opportunity), so that we had friends, linkages and far greater leverage in the emerging security framework, but we chose not to.
There were many who had cautioned against the adoption of this effete strategic outlook, whereby, even as we kept on enlarging our civilian engagement we did not do enough to shore up attendant security concerns, but we hung on to our bravado. There were others who advocated keeping channels open with some elements in the Taliban leadership but their calls went unheeded, defying not only common sense but also mathematical logic. The Taliban, it bears reiteration, represents the Pashtuns – the single largest ethnic identity in Afghanistan numbering about 40 million – how can you simply refuse to do business with such a numerically significant entity?
Today, many liberal Pashtuns complain that India did not back them strongly enough. Of course, the choices were never and are still not easy, with each of the major players being a bundle of contradictions – Karzai is reportedly doing a deal with Pakistan because he feels that India did not put its weight behind him with sufficient resolve, the Taliban is grateful that India did not intervene militarily but openly claims responsibility for the recent attack in Kabul alleging RAW presence, and our natural ally (the United States) does not want us in because of fear of inviting Pakistani wrath. But the Pakistanis and the Americans were faced with similarly difficult choices – yet they did assert themselves and muscled their way in. In contrast, India was simply not assertive enough, a perception now publicly reinforced by the likes of Moridian Dawood, Advisor to the Afghan Foreign Minister, who has said, “India seems apologetic about its presence. It’s a regional player and must behave like one, instead of insisting on a benign presence with a penchant for staying in the background.”
By design, or more accurately by conscious drift, therefore, we conceded the strategic initiative to Pakistan. We took the burden of a good democracy to Afghanistan, but as is our wont forgot to under gird it with force (not merely its combat dimension, but its numerous softer nuances). Pakistan, on the other hand, chose to pay with blood and leveraged its role in targeting the Afghan Taliban in hideouts on its side of the border with skill. From accused (terror epicentre) it turned approver and is now using arrests of key Taliban leaders (Mullah Baradar) to further muscle its way into the emerging power structure in Afghanistan. It has also deftly nuanced its counter terror response – decisive contest with the Pakistani Taliban (Tehreek-e-Taliban, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba) and selective engagement with the Afghan Taliban, while continuing to aid and abet the LeT and Jaish as foreign policy tools along its Eastern borders.
With regard to the broader situation, there are of course huge difficulties, but there is also the faint glimmer of hope. The United States has done a great deal and will continue to remain engaged over the next 12 to 18 months in seeking military ascendancy over the Taliban. The fear that America will cut costs and run does sound a little unreal – having invested so much in blood and treasure it will stay for a while, and an early exit will come about only if America begins to cede the military initiative.
If it continues with its military ascendancy as seems to be the case now, Obama will be empowered to prolong the American stay (public support for the American involvement in Afghanistan is already growing). The exit time table is more in the nature of a warning to others to get their act together, since the Americans cannot be expected to stay forever. Efforts are on under the stewardship of Maj. Gen. Richard Barrons to lure away the second tier leadership of the Taliban and peel away the hard core fighters by offering them jobs and cash (250 dollars a month as against 300 dollars on offer by the Taliban).
In a few years from now, Afghanistan could begin to resemble today’s Iraq – restive, violent, not greatly democratized but not entirely anarchic either. Operation Mushtarak aimed at capturing the drug stronghold – Marjah, and despite the recent Taliban fightback in Musa Qala this may turn out to be the Fallujah moment in Afghanistan (not as bloody but possibly as decisive). If the trend continues in Kandahar (Operation Omaid is due to begin in June) and then in Eastern Afghanistan where the all powerful Jalaluddin Haqqani is ensconced in the provinces of Khost, Pakyta, Pakhtiar and Gardez, the halo of invincibility shrouding the Taliban may begin to disappear.
We do seem to have got it wrong – staying engaged as reiterated by the National Security Adviser and even by the Prime Minister, is of course a symbol of our altruistic resolve, but whether it reflects strategic acuity or even level headed pragmatism is another matter. Afghanistan was a test case for our foreign policy resolve – an arena where while leveraging other tools of foreign policy, use of instruments of force and military diplomacy/intelligence should have been predominant.
But that would have meant a paradigm shift in our foreign policy construct, leading to a greater role for the military. It was easier therefore to deflect by jumping to the usual conclusions about use of force not being an option – the various reasons being trotted out do seem to be frivolous. The end state in Afghanistan will soon reflect the pusillanimous reality, because in life as in diplomacy you reap as you sow. While we may continue to gain goodwill, we will soon be faced with the prospect of waning influence in the evolving power structure and little security for our civilian presence. Closer home, we may be faced with a qualitatively upgraded terror threat – the ISI/LeT could use surrendered Taliban cadres to bring the menace of deadly suicide bombers to our door step (revelations in the ongoing Headley saga which document his linkages with elements of the Al Qaeda in North Waziristan point to the rather ominous possibilities of collusion).
Even at this late stage there is a need to seriously review our options. We lack the necessary military presence and leverage with the security establishment in Afghanistan to secure our interests. Hamid Karzai is simply not in a position to guarantee our security. It may be more prudent to roll back our civilian engagement, unless we wish to lose more civilian lives. Merely pumping in more and more CRPF personnel in defensive rings will be of little help in a country where we have no penetration in the central facets of the security dynamic and no worthwhile military presence, such defensive rings can be easily breached – especially by seasoned rogues from the ISI.
We also need to ponder over our broader approach – instead of going down the familiar road of preachiness/talking down to Pakistan (repeatedly describing it as a state whose creation was fundamentally flawed, a failed/failing state, etc.) and indulging in endless diplomatic gobbledygook without accompanying resolve, we need to change tone and tenor and become less patronising while quietly undergirding our own response with far greater acuity and resolve. It may also be useful if we were to revisit the utility and wisdom of some of our own polemical rhetoric.
We need to acknowledge that Pakistan may be a troubled state in many ways but it is neither failed, nor failing. Given its peculiar dynamic it is indeed a smart survivor with an uncanny knack of leveraging its benefactors (the Americans and the Chinese) with particular finesse. We must also avoid the easy temptation of churlishly finding fault for many of our own failings in the persona of the Pakistan Army – the number of people in Delhi’s seminar circuit who needlessly spit venom on the Pakistan military as the mother of all evils is indeed incredible. “Kashmir is merely an obsession with the Pakistan Army, the ordinary Pakistani does not care,” is the frequent assertion. Really? Last week, prominent Pakistani media personality Hamid Mir (who is no friend of the Pakistan military establishment), when asked by CNN-IBN as to what was the central obstacle in India-Pakistan relations, simply stated “Kashmir.”
We need to acknowledge this reality. Sample some of the responses to the recently concluded Strategic Dialogue in Washington. As soon as news came that Kayani and Shuja Pasha would attend, we saw a spate of Pakistan military bashing once again. Strategic Dialogues are a great deal about matters military – so if Generals Kayani and Shuja Pasha represented the Pakistani delegation, Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman JCS, represented the Americans. That is the global practice. If our own horribly antiquated practices don’t reflect the same, we need to make amends and not curse the Pakistan military.
Anyway, while there is little we can do about the US-Pakistan or Sino-Pakistan engagements, there is a great deal we can do ourselves – strengthening our counter terror response domestically, making sure we have viable military response options in the event of another Mumbai (well thought through, swift and decisive), restoring our greatly eroded conventional military edge, enhancing the credibility of our nuclear deterrent, initiating long pending organizational and structural defence reforms in the absence of which we shall continue to field an impaired military capability. This will be far more useful than the endless parroting of strategic nonsense like “force is no option”. Strategic Restraint lies in holding back despite the capacities and not in indulging in a lengthy exchange of dossiers since you neither have the capacities nor the resolve. While the former will inspire respect and may even deter, the latter is more likely to provoke fresh bouts of adventurism (especially when your thresholds are being monitored by smart cookies like Kayani and Shuja Pasha who sense weakness in our predilection to hum and haw).
Unfortunately, while this country has an extremely astute and sagacious political leadership, our National Security Management Structures (those that proffer options and advice) are held hostage to the Indian Foreign Service which may be extremely adept at leveraging diplomacy but has little understanding of instruments of force and their nuanced utilities. So when the odd opportunity does arise to graft the two in the interest of Indian statecraft they choke. Afghanistan is an instructive case in point. The absence of cross cultural inputs and a viable military dynamic in our foreign policy construct is the most serious handicap in our statecraft.
A good way to begin might lie in designating somebody with a sound strategic mind and an understanding of the military dynamic as the Special Envoy to Afghanistan – it could be a Lt. General from the Army or somebody like C. Raja Mohan. Such an arrangement will be a welcome departure from the present practice of an extended swaddle (the Ambassador, Special Envoy and key appointments in the National Security Council are exclusively IFS) presenting the political leadership with the usual rigmarole – the same suspects producing the same stereotyped views. But will our combative turf warriors ever be able to place national interest before their own?
Or, will our political class summon the nerve to abandon outdated tenets of civilian control and seek direct, unfettered, professional military advice on matters of foreign policy while simultaneously infusing our National Security Structures with cross cultural talent? Desultory consultation (often only when the crisis erupts) must make way for intimate, prior, continuous and informed dialogue with the military and the strategic community. The resultant feed will help to develop and nurture capacities, that allow us, when confronted with challenges like Afghanistan, to apply comprehensive national power to more purposeful effect. Af-Pak and India’s Strategic Innocence
Raj Shukla, April 2, 2010
A decade of war in Afghanistan has tried to reconfigure the politics of West Asia. Some powers have tried to rearrange the geography and the boundaries. Some in Delhi had hoped that Pakistan would give up its dreams and allow existential threats to cloud its strategic objectives.
Obviously that has not happened.
General Kiyani has once again reiterated the Pakistan’s strategic depth lies in Afghanistan. However that did not mean that Pakistan wanted to control Kabul.
- “We want a strategic depth in Afghanistan but do not want to control it,”
- “A peaceful and friendly Afghanistan can provide Pakistan a strategic depth.”
This means that the Bharati (aka Indian) policy of death by a thousand cuts has not deterred the Pakistani resolve to ensure that the Western flank of Pakistan is free of enemies, and that the Hindu Kush mountains continue to provide depth to Pakistan’s strategic objective.
The Strategic Depth has been dicussed threadbare in Islamabad and in foreign capitals. However this is the first time that a Pakistani Army General has overtly and publicly announced the policy. It is pedagogical to note that the announcement was made in the earshot of NATO, ISAF and US Generals.
It is not a pure coincidence that Pakistan’s overt announcement was made right after the regional conference on Afghanistan which did not include Bharat (aka India). It is poignant to comprehend that Bharat got a seat on the second row at the London conference on Afghanistan–clearly defining its exclusion from a role in Kabul. An angry and incensed Delhi lodged a protest with Turkey, but could not change the mind of the several dozen countries which over ruled Bharati objections on accommodating the Taliban in Kabul.
What was said was important. However what is even more important was what was not said. Mr. Karzai did not object to Bharati exclusion from the conference in Istanbul. Mr. Karzai is fighting a battle for his political survival. He knows that his days in Kabul are numbered. The brazen attacks on Kabul and Helmand are a clear warning sign to his last days in Kabul. Mr. Karzai clearly knows which side his bread is buttered on. Any chance of reconciliation with the Taliban depends on good relations with Pakistan
RAWALPINDI: Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said on Monday the success of military operations in the tribal regions have caused substantial decline in cross-border attacks on Nato forces in Afghanistan and warned that it was essential to address Pakistan’s long-term strategic concerns for stability in the region.
In a rare press briefing, General Kayani said it would be a cause of worry for Pakistan if Afghanistan’s projected army developed the potential to take on Pakistan.
“We want a strategic depth in Afghanistan but do not want to control it,” the general said while talking to a group of journalists at the Army General Headquarters.
“A peaceful and friendly Afghanistan can provide Pakistan a strategic depth.” He asked the US and Nato to come out with a clear strategy on Afghanistan. Kayani spells out terms for regional stability By Zahid Hussain Tuesday, 02 Feb, 2010
General Kiyani’s clear enunciation of strategic depth as a corner stone of Pakistani policy was made after his meeting with NATO commanders. It is incomprehensible that the Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA) would announce a strategic decision without the total approval of NATO, ISAF and the US. President Obama’s approval of a $1.2 billion military aid package to Pakistan is a clarion call to Pakistan to help the US save face and exit from Afghanistan.
What is even more important for West Asia is the Pakistani offer of training the Afghan National Army, which would ostensibly be merged with the Taliban fighters who sign the peace treaty. This offer is a sign of the times–specially since Delhi’s similar offer was politely refused by Defence Secretary Bob Gates.
General Kayani who last week participated in Nato commanders’ conference in Brussels said Pakistan was prepared to train the Afghan National Army which would help improve relations between the two nations. He said he hoped the offer would get a positive response.
“If we get more involved with the ANA (Afghan National Army) there’s more interaction and better understanding,” General Kayani said.
“We have opened all doors … It’s a win-win for Afghanistan, the United States, Isaf and Pakistan,” he said, referring to Nato’s International Security Assistance Force.
He said he believed it would take at least four years to achieve a target of a 140,000-strong Afghan force able to take over security responsibilities.
Pakistan has raised concern over a similar offer by India to train Afghan army, and the issue could become another point of conflict between the two South Asian neighbours.
Pakistan’s offer reflects Islamabad’s rising concern over Indian influence in Afghanistan. “Our strategic paradigm needs to be fully realised,” General Kayani said.
He warned that an environment hostile to Pakistan could strain its battle against militancy and extremism. He said he had conveyed the concerns and constraints of Pakistan to the Nato allies.
“There are some key issues of the conflict that needed to be fully understood and addressed.”
He said there was a need for realisation of Pakistan’s key regional position and its contribution in the war. Kayani spells out terms for regional stability By Zahid Hussain Tuesday, 02 Feb, 2010
General Kiyani’s doctrine is Pakistan’s Monroe Doctrine. Afghanistan is clearly part and parcel of Pakistan’s sphere of influence and Bharat has been told by almost all concerned to lay-off. The Kiyani Doctrine is similar to the Zia Doctrine which clearly described Pakistan’s sphere of influence from the Indus to the Oxus and beyond. Dushanbe and Fergana are part of the ECO neural network which is being strengthed by thousands of miles of roads and rails connecting the ancestral lands of Babur and Taimur to the people of the Indus in Pakistan
General Kayani said more than 140,000 Pakistani troops were now involved in fighting militants in the northwest and deployment along the Afghan border.
He said over the last seven months Pakistani military had launched 209 major and 510 minor operations in 10 regions. He said 2,273 Pakistani army officers and soldiers had been killed in the fighting so far.
General Kayani said that the military operations in South Waziristan and Swat were at present in a transitory phase — from hold to build. “We must consolidate our gains and fully stabilise the area secured lest it fall back to the terrorists,” he said.
He warned against losing sight for future operations. “Public opinion, media support, army’s capability and resolve are fundamental to our war,” he said.
General Kayani rejected the perception that Pakistan did not want to take on the militants in North Waziristan. “There is already one army division deployed there and we have taken action whenever required,” he declared
He said it was important that the military consolidated its hold in South Waziristan and other tribal regions before starting another army offensive.
Last October the army launched a major offensive in South Waziristan which had become the main bastion of Pakistani Taliban movement and Al Qaeda.
More than 30,000 troops have been involved in the operation which is said to be the biggest since Pakistan joined the US war on terror after September 11, 2001.
The troops have cleared most of the region, but there are still pockets of resistance. Many Taliban commanders have taken refuge in neighbouring Waziristan. “We have broken the myth that Waziristan cannot be controlled,” he said.
Pakistan has been facing mounting pressure from the United States to start army operation in North Waziristan which is the base for another Taliban faction.
The US and western intelligence agencies believe the area is also a base of Afghan insurgents led by Sirajuddin Haqqani. Pakistan had signed a peace deal with the Taliban faction in 2006.
General Kayani said Pakistani military’s success in South Waziristan had sent a strong message to the militants operating in North Waziristan and other areas.
“There is, however, no need at this point to start a stream roller operation in North Waziristan.”
The army chief said the large number of casualties suffered by the Pakistani security forces and economic losses had not dented the armed forces’ resolve to fight terrorism and violent extremism. “We will fight and finish the terrorism in our own interest,” General Kayani said.
He said the intelligence sharing and greater cooperation between Pakistani military and US forces had helped improve the situation. “The regular contacts between Pakistani and US military commanders have greatly helped in understanding each others’ position.” Kayani spells out terms for regional stability By Zahid Hussain Tuesday, 02 Feb, 2010
There is a qualitative and quantitative difference between Bharati interests and Pakistani interests in Afghanistan. Bharati interests in Afghanistan is to give Delhi a second front–it is a negative, coercive, expansionist and offensive interest that perpetuates hegemony. The Pakistani interest is cultural, religious, and defensive in nature. Pakistan is the mother ship for all Pakhtuns. 40 million live in the country. Karachi is the largest Pakhtun city in the world–not Kabul. More than twice the number of Pakhtuns live in Pakistan than those who live in Afghanistan. Most of the Afghan Pakhtuns were born in Pakistan–especially in the 90s when more than 3 million lived as refugees in Pakistan. Even now more than a million Afghans live in Quetta-which give wind to the ephemeral Quetta Shura.
It is obvious that Pakistan support the Pakhtuns in Afghanistan. Wild horses could not hold the Pakistani Pakhtuns from helping the Afghan Pakhtuns most of which were born in Pakistan anyway. The bonds of tribes and kinship are a lot stronger than Dollars from Delhi (most of which were spent on Indian contractors working in Afghanistan).
Bharat will not give up Afghanistan easily. She will stand up to Turkey and protest. She will plead with NATO and ISAF. She will strong arm Karzai, and she will use her Israeli allies to put pressure on the Americans to give her a spot in Afghanistan. She will try to bifurcate Afghanistan between Pro-Pakistani Pakhtuns and other areas where Bharat may have influence. None of these machinations will work or impede the inevitable union between Pakistan and Afghanistan. When the Americans invented AfPak–it was a fortuitous omen for the one people divided artificially by the British.
The Pakistani nation has hefty needs. Ignoring these needs imperils the society, region and the world. Identifying the needs of the nation: Here is one assessment, which says, its not that hard to do: About $15 Billion shatters the cycle of poverty in Pakistan and puts it on the road to higher standards.
Using the calculations done by Dr. Furrukh Saleem and putting forward a more agressive and comprehensive schedule, the Pakistani nation has these needs.
- To put each and every Pakistani child in school we need 58,000 new schools and 163,000 new teachers. (Cost $700 million to build, $200 million to hire 163,000 new teachers)
- To radically improve health care Pakistan needs 5000 hospitals (Cost $2.5 million per hospital for a total of $12.5 Billion). At a cost of $3 Billion per annum, we can build 1000 new hospitals per year.
- 100 New High Courts, and 1000 new Small Claim Courts would cost $500 million
- Indus Highway revamp and extension into Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and China. (Cost $2 Billion)
- Railway revamp and extension into Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and China. (Cost $2 Billion)
- Pakistanis also need 5 million homes per annum. Town Planners can set up plans for a dozen brand new cities with low income one bedroom, but well planned communities with all the facilities of a modern US subdivision.
The Turks and the Koreans built skyscrapers in “Shanti Towns” (katchi abadis) and “sold” the apartments to the residents who participated in the construction of the apartments. This provided employment, skills and training to the residents of the area–and a sense of ownership. Within a few years Seoul became a modern city.
Refreigerated Cargo facilities from the Rural Villages to the Urban towns would eliminate the wastage of food items during trucking. The Supply Chain could then be expanded to the Gulf which imports $200 Billion of food items.
Dr. Furrukh Saleem has done the basic analysis, which is a good starting point. This has to be taken to the next level and fleshed out in terms of geography and schedule.
How to fund it? Forget the Pakistani government, and forget US Aid
Who is up to the challenge? A team of dedicated professionals can create “Overseas Pakistani Organization” under Abdus Sattar Edhi, sell (5 million shares at $2,500 per share–forget the math–look at the vision) and Subcontract to President Jimmy Carter’s “Habitat for Humanity”. Pakistani-Americans could be asked for “Qarz e Hasna” for $2,500. At $200 per month, this could be funded very easily. The only impediment is transparency, honesty and integrity.
Pakistan become a modern nation in 5-10 years.
The Overseas Paksitani Foundation can fund this with very little effort. The Overseas Pakistanis can set Subcontract this huge effort to Jimmy Carter’s Non-Profit “Habitat for Humanity” and build these within a few years.
Has the government of Pakistan made a plan as to how it will spend $1.5 billion that will be coming our way courtesy the Treasury Building, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC? Has any of the provincial government undertaken a need-assessment or a need-priority exercise? If we are still planning to plant pebbles then we should not expect to harvest potatoes.
The European Recovery Programme (ERP), known as the Marshall Plan, had a total of $13 billion to be shared by Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom. The plan began in 1948 and lasted for four years. For the record: one, agriculture production in recipient countries surpassed pre-war levels. Two, the period from 1948 to 1952 “saw the fastest period of growth in European history”. Three, industrial production grew by a wholesome 35 per cent. Four, poverty took a nosedive.
What can $1.5 billion do for us? Let’s say $1 billion for education, $250 million for health and $250 million for judicial reforms. I recently saw a list of 149 countries and the number of children out of primary schools in those countries. Guess, who was at the very top of the list? Answer: Pakistan. A total of 6.3 million children out of primary schools in Pakistan followed by 2.6 million in Sudan, 1.6 million in the US, 1.3 million in Niger, 1.2 million in Cote d’Ivoire and 1.2 million in Burkina Faso.
I have done the math. Pakistan has 156,732 primary schools with 440,000 teachers and 17 million students. In order for us to put each and every Pakistani child in school we need 58,000 new schools and 163,000 new teachers. For the first year, $700 million to build, $200 million to hire 163,000 new teachers — and we will still be left with $100 million for consultants and contractors.
Here’s a group of five countries whose education spending as a percentage of their GDP is the lowest: Pakistan 1.8 per cent, the UAE 1.6 per cent, Indonesia 1.2 per cent, Ecuador 1 per cent and Equatorial Guinea 0.6 per cent. Here are the figures on female illiteracy. The worst performer is Senegal at 69.2 per cent followed by Pakistan at 69.4 per cent. Remember, ‘an ounce of mother-wit is worth a pound of school-wit’.
Next; $250 million for health. We have 965 hospitals and 107,835 registered doctors. Pakistan is the third worst performer as far as expenditure on health as a percentage of GDP is concerned (the worst is Equatorial Guinea followed by Angola). We have one of the lowest numbers of physicians per unit of population, one of the highest numbers of malaria cases, one of the highest incidences of TB (181 per 100,000) and one of the lowest numbers of hospital beds per unit of population.
With $250 million a year we can build 100 new, fully-equipped hospitals every year for a total of 500 new hospitals in the following five years. Imagine; our federal government spends an equivalent of $170 million a year on health — that budget can be doubled and we will still be left with $80 million for consultants, contractors and intermediaries.
Next; $250 million for justice. Our judges are underpaid, courts are understaffed and the legal system is technologically a hundred years in the past. Our courts need a management information system, a human resources system, family courts reforms and an efficient alternative dispute resolution infrastructure. Let the ‘force of arms give place to law and justice’.
Are we failing to plan or planning to fail?
Capital suggestion, $1.5 billion per year, Sunday, December 13, 2009 Dr Farrukh Saleem
The writer is the executive director of the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS). Email: farrukh 15@hotmail.com
Qandahar is the second largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of 250,000. It used to be on of the most important trading cities in the landlocked country. It did have an international airport and has road connections to all major cities in Afghanista–Kabul, Herat. It can also be connected to the Pakistani city of Quetta and has links to the Central Asian republics. At the time of its glory Qandahar and hills yielded the best grapes in the world. It still exports opium.
It seems like eons agon, but in the sixties Qandahar in the middle of nowhere was a cool place to visit – hashish, hookas, hippies and hash pipes. We traveled from Europe to Pakistan in the late sixties by car. On the war we met thousands of European hippies headed out to the Eastern frontiers. The Europeans came for the fun, frolic and, for the simple bazaars of Qandhar, where they could buy what no European supermarket could offer them. They came for the exotic mosques (like the Mosque of the sacred Cloak) in the city which included ancient relics–containing the cloak worn by the Prophet Mohammed.
That was several decades ago. Today Qandhar is known as terror central in the world.
Qandhar was founded by Alexander the Great two thousand five hundred years ago. The word Qandhar (or the Americanized Kandhar) is a corruption of Alexander or Sikandar, as he is known in these part.
Qandahar has been fought over by the Persians, the Turks, and the Mongols. The British occupied the city breifly in 1839 (to lose it in 1842). It again occupied it it 187, but lost it again in 1881.
The Cold war was fought right here in Qandhar. All through the 80s, which the West enjoyed peace and prosperity, Pakistan and Afghanistan were in the middle of the Cold War’s fiercest hot battles. Eventually when the Rohrabakcker sponsopred, and CIA trained Taliban prevailed in 1994, they were welcomed enthusiastically in the city of grapes and hashish.
Qandhar was the first city to be attacked by the Americans in 2nd Afghan war. Today the city is on the Bharati trail of terror that extends from Tajikistan to Afghanistan and then rears its ugly head in Pakistani Baluchistan, Iranian Sistan-Balauchistan. RAW assists Junduallah from this terror base, and supports the TTP terrorists from this city.
RAW [Research and Analysis Wing] is settling scores with the ISI in Afghanistan and perhaps Baluchistan. Aqil Shah: Foreign Policy Magazine. March 2009
There is a terror network in Afghanistan. Many analysts have provided robust proof of the Bharati involvement in Afghanistan. Penury stricken Delhi didn’t spend about a Billion Dollars in Afghanistan so that the investment would eliminate the slums of Mumbai or feed the Dalits. India spent the money in Afghanistan so that it could build a base of operations against Pakistan. One of the prime directives of the RAW was to destabilize Pakistan. Asif Haroon Raja sheds light on the developments in Afghanistan and RAWs machinations in Kabul. It is run by Delhi. Officially there are only 4 Consulates and 13 “Information Centers“. But each fake “Consulate” has “Consular offices“, and each “Information center” has “Sub-sections” and “Desks”. In addition the Indian companies that are working in Afghanistan allow the Indian RAW agencies open access to the facilities and the offices. Anatomy of Indian Intelligence Services and Alliances.
We have substantiated our views via several independent sources.
I think it would be a mistake to completely disregard Pakistan’s regional perceptions due to doubts about Indian competence in executing covert operations. That misses the point entirely. And I think it is unfair to dismiss the notion that Pakistan’s apprehensions about Afghanistan stem in part from its security competition with India. Having visited the Indian mission in Zahedan, Iran, I can assure you they are not issuing visas as the main activity! Moreover, India has run operations from its mission in Mazar (through which it supported the Northern Alliance) and is likely doing so from the other consulates it has reopened in Jalalabad and Qandahar along the border. Indian officials have told me privately that they are pumping money into Baluchistan. Kabul has encouraged India to engage in provocative activities such as using the Border Roads Organization to build sensitive parts of the Ring Road and use the Indo-Tibetan police force for security. It is also building schools on a sensitive part of the border in Kunar–across from Bajaur. Kabul’s motivations for encouraging these activities are as obvious as India’s interest in engaging in them. Christine Fair: Foreign Policy Magazine. March 2009
The “Consulates” train agents, and then send them across the border to sabotage and create general mayhem among the population. The purpose of these operations is the same as it always has been. RAW used similar facilities to bomb Pakistani cities in the 80s. It is now using the same bases for similar bloody acts of sabotage. RAW activities in varous countries in South Asia. Nepal view: RAW’s Machination In South Asia.
History is on the side of the skeptics in Afghanistan, where from Alexander the Great to the Soviets, all foreign invaders have eventually been repelledBy Richard Halloran Tuesday, Oct 14, 2008, Page 9
Some try to proclaim the the Afghan resistance is a monolith movement called “Taliban”. It is actually 38 separate movements led by a large spectrum of anti-occupation forces which also include some remnant of the old Taliban. It is ironic that the taliban created by the USA, recognized by the Saudis, the UAE and the Pakistanis were initially created by the CIA (see Congressman Rohrabakers statements on this site).
Indian Consulates in Afghansitan training terrorists and sending them to Pakistan to blow up pipelines in BaluchistanIndian diplomats and RAW officials with the help of Northern Alliance have significant ingress in the Afghan ministry of tribal affairs. They are exploiting the ministry to conduct covert activities against Islamabad and creating rifts between the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Indian agents are instrumental in arranging meetings of tribal elders and Afghans with dual nationalities with Indian consulate officials in Jalalabad and assisting them in recruiting agents from Pakistan’s tribal areas for activities prejudicial to Pakistan’s interests. India’s new colony by Furzana Shaheen
Nepal view: RAW’s Machination In South Asia. Here is Hamid Mir’s current column in The News shedding light on the role of Qandhar in the terror activities in Pakistan.
I remember that many Indian journalists were shocked after reading the joint statement. They started asking me that why Balochistan is mentioned in the statement? In fact many of them were not aware like many common Indians that what is going on in Balochistan. Within a few hours I started receiving calls from many Indian TV channels that what evidence was shown by Pakistan to Manmohan Singh about the alleged Indian involvement in Balochistan? In fact the Pakistani prime minister did mention Balochistan to Manmohan Singh but he never handed over any dossier to his Indian counterpart.
The situation in Balochistan came under detailed discussion during the first meeting of the foreign secretaries in the evening of July 14 in Sharm el-Sheikh which took place two days before the meeting of Manmohan and Yousaf Raza Gilani. Pakistani foreign secretary Salman Bashir told Shiv Shankar Menon that India must delink the talks from terrorism otherwise Pakistan will be forced to produce at least “three Indian Ajmal Kasab’s” in front of international media who were directly or indirectly part of the terrorist activities in Balochistan and Pakistan will easily establish that Indian consulate in Afghan city of Kandhar is actually a control room of all the terrorist activities organised by the separatist Balochistan Liberation Army.
Salman Bashir told Indian foreign secretary that both Pakistan and India cannot afford a blame game right now. If Pakistan will come out with evidence that Indians are responsible for attacking Chinese engineers in the Gwadar port city it may damage Indian credibility on one side but it will also spread more anti-India feelings in Pakistan and extremist forces will be the ultimate beneficiaries.
Pakistan is [...]e against the Indian involvement in Balochistan insurgency in a very careful, well-calculated and “limited manner.” Recently a prominent US magazine Foreign Affairs (March 2009) published the report of a roundtable discussion on the causes of instability in Pakistan. Christine Fair of RAND Corporation clearly said in that discussion that “having visited the Indian mission in Zahedan, Iran, I can assure you they are not issuing visas as the main activity. Indian officials have told me privately that they are pumping money into Balochistan.”
Central Asia tajikistan Pakistan with RAW trail of terrorThis allegation came from a very credible American scholar who recently visited Indian consulate in Zahedan. Now where is Zahedan? It is the capital of Iranian province Sistan-o-Balochistan bordering Pakistan. More than two million Balochis live in the Iranian side of Balochistan. Iran is building a big port of Chabahar in the same area with the active help of India. Top Iranian leaders have alleged many times that American CIA is supporting Iranian Balochis to destabilise the Islamic Republic. Famous American journalist Seymour Hersh admitted in July 2008 that Bush administration gave million of dollars to a separatist Iranian group “Jandallah” which is responsible for violence in Iranian part of Baluchistan. Balochistan and India, Wednesday, July 29, 2009, Hamid Mir
Senior US diplomat William Burns gave Indian officials a terse and cryptic directive on Thursday. ”Shut down Indian Consulates in Afghanistan, reduce presence in Kabul and stop sending mercenaries across the Durand Line.” This message was supplemented with a letter from President Barack Obama to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The message in the letter was the same. India has few options now. It can accept the US diktat or it can defy it. If Delhi defies American warnings and polite talk, then NATO and ISAF will stop providing the necessary security to the nest of spies and saboteurs known as “Consulates”. Rupee News broke the news about the letter from Presidetn Barack Obama before Indian agencies began reporting the frank and blunt message.
A US diplomat has handed India a letter from US President Barack Obama about US-Indian ties that also touched on efforts to stabilize Afghanistan and Pakistan, US officials said Wednesday. Envoy Richard Holbrooke, briefing reporters on his own visit to Pakistan and Gulf Arab states last week, said US diplomat William Burns delivered the letter after arriving in Delhi overnight Tuesday but declined to divulge its contents. “This administration believes that what happens in Afghanistan and Pakistan is of vital interest to our national security, and … that India is a country that we must keep in closest consultation with,” Holbrooke said. Holbrooke added that Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs, is carrying a private presidential letter “that I would have carried if I had the time to go to Delhi on this trip but I couldn’t do it.” Obama letter handed to India amid consultations on Pak. The Nation
Shutting down the Consulates is not enough. The Bharati base in Tajikistan also has to be shut down.
Tajikistan map Indian base-Indian Consulates-dens of Inequity
Washington has publicly and privately asked Delhi to improve relations with Islamabad so that the Pakistani armed forces can concentrate on the Western borders. At this critical juncture when a US surge is going to place additional pressure on Durand Line, the Obama Administration wants Delhi to help ease the tensions and reduce the level of rhetoric. In a highly unusual step the American Envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan has handed over a letter from President Obama to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It has already been established that the meeting was about Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is widely understood in diplomatic circles that the US wants India to back off on its so called demands. The blunt message came after the U S Treasury secretary visited China and came back with Beijing’s displeasure at the continued Indian support for the TTP in Swat.
United News of India quoted unnamed sources as saying that the US had asked India to ‘close or prune down’ its consulate in Jalalabad in Afghanistan following allegations by Pakistan that it was ‘creating trouble’ in the border areas of NWFP and Balochistan.
UNI said Pakistan had alleged that the Indian consulates in Jalalabad and Kandahar were ‘fomenting trouble’ in NWFP and Balochistan bordering Afghanistan by providing financial and material support to fugitives in the two border provinces. The sources said besides asking India to resume talks with Pakistan, the US was also trying to convey to Indian authorities its views on closing or pruning the Indian Consulate in Jalalabad…. Dawn
Delhi has to tone down its rhetoric on terror. Islamabad and the world knows who is behind the TTP in Swat. If Delhi wants peace with Pakistan, it has to pull back in Afghanistan and Swat. It has to make major territorial concessions in Kashmir and the border areas. Once the border disputes have been resolved, the sky is the limit in cooperation with Pakistan. Sir Creek and Siachin have to solved and resolved quickly. Once Kashmir is resolved in accordance with the UN resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people, the Pakistan government will find to problem in helping Bharat gain trans-national travel through Pakistan. However this has to be on a mutual basis which would allow Pakistani truck to reach Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. Bharat must live up to the letter and the spirit of the Indus Water treaty and begin treating Pakistanis are friends rather than enemies.
NEW DELHI: Senior US diplomat William Burns gave Indian officials a wish-list on Thursday that aims to revive India-Pakistan peace talks, assures New Delhi of its vital role in Washington’s strategy in the region, and retrieves the hope for Kashmiri people to shape their own destiny.
Local reports quoted unnamed sources as saying that the visiting US Under-Secretary of State also asked his interlocutors to trim India’s consulate in Jalalabad, which Pakistan sees as a distraction in the military campaign against Muslim extremists on the Afghan border. Dawn
There are many types of peace. It is obvious that India has neither the capacity nor the wherewithal to impose peace of the sort that exists between the Native Americans and the US government. India is not Israel and Pakistan is not the Gaza strip. If Israel with all its might could not force an unequal peace on unequal partners (Syria, Palestinians and Lebanon) it is also very obvious that Delhi cannot impose peace on Pakistan the same way. Bharat could not break up Lanka and make it Kowtow to Bharat. It cannot force Pakistan. It has to woo Pakistanis if she wants peace on her Western borders.
There is much in common between India and Pakistan, but there is much that separates the countries. Mere cultural affinity and anathema to religion cannot wish the differences away. Bharat must recognize that Pakistanis do not see Delhi as the perfect model to emulate on anything. Therefore Delhi must stop wishing for a Pakistan in its own image. There are many routes to success, and Pakistanis admire the Chinese a lot more than they admire Indians.
DIGITAL PAKISTAN
The first step towards a “Digital Pakistan” is the establishment of goals for the next five years, the next ten years and the next generation.
Past US presidents established the goal to build a network of roads, railroads, and a goal to reach the moon. Other presidents established goals to place all documents on the internet.
If we do not have a vision we will never be able to get there. A Digital Pakistan is the vision of the next decade and beyond. Each successive generation can and must establish a vision and then work hard to achieve it.
This is one version of the “Digital Pakistan” that is the right of the next generation.
NEEDS OF THE PAKISTANI NATION
Without a lot of ceremony, here is a list of requirements of the Pakistani nation:
1. For our role in the proxy wars of the past century Pakistanis deserve the following. Here a bill to be handed over to “the powers to be”.
2. We want Bullet Trains running from the Karakorum’s and beyond to Gwader and beyond.
3. We want a modern train system and underground railways for our cities.
4. We want Water and sewage lines in our major cities and our towns and villages.
5. We want 1000 proper schools for our children and we want $100 million
6. 2500 brand new world class hospitals. $ 1 Billion million.
7. Compare to the USA: (Total Number of all U.S. registered hospitals: 5759
8. Total staffed beds in all U.S. registered hospitals: 955,768
9. Teach Urdu, English, Farsi, Arabic and Chinese in all schools. Also optional languages Punjabi, Kashmiri, Pahari, Hindkoh, Saraki, Pushto, Baluchi, Brahvi, Sindhi, Darri, Potohari. $ 50 million
10. We want 500 modern libraries spread all over the country. Build a library larger than the one in Alexandria. $250 million compare to 117,378 libraries in the USA
11. We want a Motorway system to link all cities of Pakistan, North and South, East and West. $10 billion
12. We need 10 new major airports linked by High Speed Trains. $10 Billion
13. We want 50 million “$100 computers” for Pakistanis in Urdu and all local languages. $100 million
14. We want “kachi abadis” to disappear from our cities. We want to see skyscraper and government housing for all the poor who can be used for labor to build the building. $ 5 Billion
15. We want 100 power plants to eliminate the shortage of electricity in the country.$ 500 million
16. We want 5 major dams and 100 minor dams to prevent the acute water shortage in the country. $ 500 million
17. We want 100 ships for the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation so that Pakistan can become a major sea faring nation able to handle the trade. $ 5 Billion
18. We have to quadruple the yield for our Cotton, Milk and Wheat production benchmarked against the USA, Australia and Canada. $1 Billion
19. Get ship load of Sri Lankan teachers to eliminate illiteracy in Pakistan. $ 10 million
20. Get boatloads of Malaysian manufacturers to setup electronic manufacturing in Pakistan
21. Get train loads of Koreans to build 10 new planned cities in Pakistan. $ 10 Billion
22. Get a plane load of the Swiss to build world class ski resorts and amusement parks and develop our archeological sites as wonders of the world. $ 2 Billion
23. Get busloads of Chinese to build industrial parks in Pakistan. $ 10 Billion
24. We want to reclaim millions of acres of desert in Baluchsitan for our future generations. $ 3 Billion
25. And Oh! Yes Northern Areas are part and parcel of Pakistan not to be bartered away to anyone. Don’t even think of giving up Kashmir!
26. Does this list look expensive? Not really. The cost of all this is in the league of $38 Billion that was offered to Turkey for transit rights into Iraq, which the Turkish parliament turned down. Even if it double or triple that amount, we deserve it.
27. Pakistan’s largest Park Ayub National Park is today a moth eaten park. General Ayub Khan stole half of it for golf. Other military orfficers and others took portions of the park and build their homes. The park needs to be restored to its original boundries and all illegal construction needs to be demolished. Vast areas in Balauchistan, the Norhtern Areas, Punajb and Sindh need to be designated as Pakistan National Parks on the lines of the US National Parks. No construction would be allowed on the large national parks.
28. Development of Horticulture: Pakistan has the means to develop the production of roses and other horticultural materials that can be exported in frozen format to countries in Europe and the US. The flower market is a multi-billion Dollar market and needs to be expoited.
29. PTV needs to be revamped so that it can provide information and entertainment to the Middle East, Africa and Europe. If Al Jazeera and Press TV can do it, so can Pakistan.
30. Pakistan needs to actively participate in Clinical Research Trials which is a multi-billion Dollar industry.
LET US FOCUS ONLY ON EDUCATION FOR STARTERS:
1) Malaysia focused on primary schools, and Ghana focused on Higher education. For the first 20 years after independence Malaysia did not build any universities at all. Malaysia built primary and secondary schools. The results have shown phenomenal growth for education in Malaysia and dismal results in Ghana.
2) Sri Lanka a country ridden with an ongoing civil war as well as penury stricken population and poverty laden infrastructure was able to life the country out of illiteracy and today has the highest literacy rates in Asia as well one of the highest literacy rates in the world.
3) Abdus Sattar Edhi lives in a corrupt society where the government in unable and unwilling to provide social benefits to its population. Abdus Sattar Edhi runs a fleet of more than 500 ambulances, helicopters and planes. He also has orphanages, women’s shelters, and provides death and burial services to the poor in all urban centers of Pakistan. He is scrupulously honest. He has received many international awards and boasted that his personal account has more than $85 million. Edhi sleeps in his office and wears the clothes donated by the family of a dead person for 10 days
His organization needs to be duplicated.
4) Bangladesh after the trauma of 1971 asked all of its graduates to devote 1 year of their lives. They would only receive a degree if they made sure that two illiterate people would become literate. Paksitan should force all intermediate to educate 5 people and all graduates to educate and make literate 10 people before they can get degrees. NADRA should ensure that there is no duplication of people and there is no fraud.
5) Cuba is one of the most sanctioned countries in the world. It also has one of the best and most comprehensive medical systems in the world. All Cubans are educated and have good medical attention. Hundreds of Cuban volunteers stayed in Pakistan in the earthquake. Cuba and Pakistan established diplomatic relations and Cuba offered 1000 fully paid scholarships to Pakistanis. This system has to be institutionalized and Pakistan needs to learn from Cuba.
6) Karachi has one of the highest literacy in the nation. All Karachi schools run in double shifts and have been running on double shifts for more than 40 years. The Muhajirs have almost a 100% literacy rate. All Pakistani government schools must run on double shifts.
7) Bangladesh developed the Grameen Bank. A lot of this has been discussed on this low cost lending system, but the fact remains that this is the “Committee system” used by urban and rural housewives for generations. Grameen offers small loans, mainly to women. Grameen boasts a non-existent default rate because the five or ten members in the “committee” depend on the person to return the loan. This has improved the conditions of the poorest.
Turkey has used the capitalist system to eliminate “katchi abadis”, by developing partnerships with the public and private sectors. All the residents of a “katchi abadi” are registered. This list is frozen. Some elected representatives are chosen to work with the government for regularization of the land. The land is used as collateral to get a load to build a new village which includes
a) a school
b) a hospital
c) a shopping mall
d) a mosque
e) and a high rise building which provides basic amnesties to all the residents. The “katchi abadi” residents cannot sell the land or the building. This goes into a trust. The shops generate funds for the community and a certain number of apartments are sold to the general public and rented to the general public to generate funds for the building. All “katchi abadi” residents thus get decent housing, eyesores are eliminated from the cities, and the venture is commercially feasible.
9) A list needs to be generated of all government run schools. These need to be mapped. All ghost schools need to be listed and identified in a database posted on the internet.
10) Every district has to be identified where schools do not exist.
11) A central Education Emergency Center (EEC)* office needs to be established in every district to create lists of all illiterate persons in the district. The EEC office also lists all children in the district, especially the mother of girls in a database. * Need to think of a good name IN URDU & LOCAL LANGUAGES FOR THE EEC.
12) The EEC Iqra (Insaf *** R*** Area) sets up adult literacy training to all the mothers and adults as well as the children.
13) The EEC establishes schools in one room homes or open air schools, and even under peepal trees or tents. Initially the EEC may use government buildings to train adults and mothers and children in the 2nd shift. As funding becomes available the schools will have an infrastructure. Where possible, the EEC schools will build its own schools
14) The EEC establishes FM radio network and a TV channel for adult education. Australian children who cannot commute to schools used to be taught via CB radios and HAM radios. Today this can and must be established via the internet.
15) Many organizations have created products for the 3rd world a) Hand cranked laptops hooked to network by peer-to-peer network b) solar ovens c) solar powered refrigerator d) cheap toilets d) biogas generators e) wind power tube wells. All of these and others have to listed, prioritized and used in the EEC centers
16) The EEC must set up votechnical centers to teach adults and children basic skills in
a) plumbing
b) woodworking/carpentry
c) electrical works
d) computer assembly
e) Improving harvesting techniques
f) Supply chain improvement and Storage improvement of vegetables and fruits
g) Identification of better seeds, and informing farmers about the better seeds to improve per hector yields
Irregardless of ones political views, it is a fact that the past decade witnessed unprecendented economic growth of the Pakistani economy. The previous growth spurt was in the 60s when Korean economic teams came to emulate the decade of development (1958-1968). Other periods saw economic development at around 5% which is also what Pakistan has in store for the newxt few months.
Though much maligned in the Pakistani press, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has some good insight into the way forward for Pakistan. Even if we eliminate his political defense, it is pedagogical to understand the points listed in his advice to the current government of Pakistan.
For serious researchers into political and economic thought, we would like to intoduce our readers to Pakistan’s Vision 2020. Many will be surprised that stapins.org already contains these and other suggestions.
http://stapins.wordpress.com/2008/01/07/pakistan-vision-2020/
A more detailed report has been prepared for Pakistani Policticians. This password protected report is presented here:
Protected: POLSPPOL:Halting the march towards Irrelevancy:-Political Strategies for Pakistani Politicians (http://stapins.wordpress.com/2008/12/07/polspolhalting-the-march-towards-irrelevancy-political-strategies-for-pakistani-politicians/)
1) Shaukat Aziz is right on most counts, however we veciferously disagree with him on denationalizing the Steel Mill and OGDC. The Indian and Chinese OGDCs are buying exploration rights all over Africa and the world. The Pakistani OGDC should be competing with them and securing oil supplies for Pakistan in distant lands. The Sir Creek Area has to be opened up for exploration immediately
2) The Pakistan Steel Mill is a national asset without which the nuclear and missile program would not have been possible. Both Russia and China are ready to double and triple its production. Pakistan can and should upgrade the steel mill and export steel utilizing the potential of the Pakistani ship breaking industry (which was the largest in the world–destroyed by the owner of Ittifaq Foundry during his premiership).
3) I agree with the numbers and the assessment that Dar was the worst thing that happened to Pakistan first in the 90s and then again in 2008. Jan-March the Pakistan Stock Market was the best in terms of growth on the planet. After Dar started spewing his garbage, it fell and fell hard.
4) The article is a bit dated. Oil prices are not an issue anymore. Inflation will subside if the country stops printing money and eliminates deficit spending. There should be a constitutional amendment to prohibit deficit spending. Foreign Aid should never be used for deficit financing–only for investment projects.
5) The dams are very important for Pakistan. All six dams should be built. The WB is ready to begin financing them.
6) One of the biggest achievements for Pakistan was the FTA with China. This has to be utilized to the hilt. An FTA has to be negotiated with the USA.
7) The article does not mention the $200 billion potential as food granary of the Middle East or the $100 billion potential as “The Mekan Coast” and does not really discuss the potential of Coal in detail. Pakistan has the 4th largest reserves of coal and this translates to three times the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia. The article does not discuss improving primary education with the help of Sri Lanka and even Bangladesh. It does focus on the nine international universities but does not mention the potential for Pakistani Medical universities built on the pattern of Cuban Medical colleges and the Cuban medical system (one of the best in the 3rd world).
Pakistan should kill the IPI pipeline, purchase all the gas from Iran and then containerize it as CNG/LPG and sell it in the international market. If India wants to buy the CNG it can pay in Dollars. The original transit fees wa s $1 Billion. Indian has whittled it down to less than $100 million. Pakistan does not need the headache for $100 million. It is useless. For security reasons Pakistan must not link its economy to India in any way. Already India has started stopping the water to Pakistan
STAPINS stapins.org has already discussed many of the points listed below in our summary document on this link http://stapins.wordpress.com/2008/01/07/pakistan-vision-2020/
The Economic Way forward By Shaukat Aziz (former Prime Minister of Pakistan)
When I was asked to write a piece on the economic way forward, I hesitated at first because I felt that with a new government in place it is better that we leave the way forward to the new economic managers rather than play the role of back seat drivers and provide unsolicited advise. But the mountain of criticism of the previous government policies from all sorts of arm chair critics, ranging from retired bureaucrats and economists of the cold war era who still believe in the supremacy of state management of the economy and for whom Venezuela and Bolivia are the new role models, to islamists who feel that the entire western global economic system is doomed and we need to chalk out a new paradigm, convinced me that perhaps the time had come to analyze the past and set the record straight, assess the current situation and contribute to the debate on the way forward.
Now that we have the political parties of the nineties back in power it can be instructive to examine a few economic indicators of the nineties with the past eight years and draw inferences. Since the economic growth numbers have been challenged by the critics. I will
use numbers that are not subject to disagreement. So for example, if the GDP growth numbers are being challenged other growth indicators that the public can understand can show the reality.
The official GDP growth from around US $ 65 billion in 1999-2000 to US$ 165 billion in 2007-08 (a factor of 2.5 times) is challenged as being fudged but growth of credit to the private sector over the same time period from Rs one trillion to Rs 2.5 trillion, again a factor of 2.5 times, cannot be challenged.
The data shows that while electricity consumption grew by 1300 Gwh per year in the decade of the nineties it grew by 3750 Gwh per year from 2000 to 2008 a factor of 2.8 times. Gas consumption grew by 20 billion cft per year in the nineties compared with 80 billion cft per year from 2000 to 2007 a factor of four times. The revenue collection by FBR increased from Rs 300 billion in 1999 to over one trillion in 2008 Foreign investment that averaged around $ 500 million per year in the nineties touched over $ 8 billion in 2008 alone. Remittances that were around one billion in 1999 have crossed six billion in 2008.
Development spending that was US$ 1.5 billion in 1999 touched $7.5 billion in 2007. Exports that were 7.5 billion in 1999 reached $18 billion in 2007. Foreign exchange reserves that were around a billion dollars in 1999 reached over 16 billion in 2007.
Stock market index that was around 1300 in 1999 touched its highest level of 15700 in April 2008 a factor of 12 times that placed the KSE as one of the best performing stock markets of the world. The exchange rate showed remarkable stability over the past eight years. Credit rating improved from selective default in 1999 to B+ and B1 by 2007.
Since the February elections and the advent of the new government economic indicators have sharply deteriorated. The Currency has fallen by 25 percent against the Dollar, the stock market index has fallen by 6700 points from its peak in April leading to an asset value loss of 43 percent amounting to loss of market capitalization of around US $ 40 billion; the largest loss in the history of Pakistan. This loss of confidence in the economy of Pakistan has been unprecedented
We can trace the loss of confidence by the foreign investor by examining the spread on the US dollar global bonds that we issued in May 2007. These bonds were issued at the start of the lawyers movement and its associated turmoil.
The bond was a huge success with over subscription of seven times amounting to $ 3.5 billion while we were seeking only $500 million.
The spread was 180 basis points above US government ten year securities. As the lawyers movement continued to gain strength in mid 2007, the spread on the bonds jumped to 300 basis points in July and 400 basis points by November when the emergency was imposed. In December when BB was assassinated the spread jumped to 600 basis points. However, after the elections, the investor community welcomed the peaceful transition by pushing the spread down to 500 points. The stock market also reacted favorably and reached its highest point of 15700 in our history in April, 2008. Since then our chaotic politics and lack of focus on economic issues has led to the collapse of the stock market to 9000 points and the spread has jumped to almost a 1000 points. So what events produced these results, between April and now In the previous government we had been highly successful in crafting a very positive brand image of Pakistan as one of the fastest growing emerging economies in Asia. After our exit from the IMF program and a successful reforms. Investors favorably compared Pakistan to India, China and Vietnam.
Every time we did a road show we were highly successful in our endeavors whether it was the OGDC flotation or UBL GDR or Euro bonds or large privatizations, investors flocked to our offerings. We were a success story in the international financial markets and most of our issues became benchmark issues. Unfortunately, this Government has not been able to maintain Pakistan Brand rather it has eroded considerably.
In this erosion the first stone was foolishly cast by our erstwhile finance minister Mr. Ishaq Dar who displayed incredible irresponsibility and immaturity in lambasting the Pakistani economy in front of the global media; at a time when the global investment community was looking towards the new government for its economic vision and future strategy the new finance minister harangued them on how bad the Pakistan economy was. In spite of this onslaught the rating agencies maintained their ratings until as in their words the new government comes up with its economic game plan. The new government was at this time caught up in utter confusion on the economic direction of the country with rapid changes in the finance setup and revolving finance ministers.
This lack of focus was disastrous for us as against this back ground, our financing plan included a number of financial market transactions totaling around $ 4 billion that were ready for the road shows.
These included the National Bank, Habib Bank, and KAPCO. The exchangeable bond issue of OGDC, and the strategic sale of PSO shares along with management control. With the stock market at an all time high the transactions would have been a great success and the road shows would have generated tremendous good will for the new government and would have highlighted the smooth transition that happened in Pakistan. It would have been a great opportunity to showcase Pakistan in front of the international investment community.
Instead in an inexplicable move the Government cancelled all the transactions. Pakistan directly lost desperately needed inflows of $ 4 billion and with the rising oil import bill this loss placed a huge pressure on the reserves and the currency. Indirectly the loss was
probably twice as much as foreign investors withdrew to the sidelines and domestic investors moved their investments overseas. It might be mentioned that while the government failed to take advantage of the window of opportunity, The MCB bank taking advantage of the great valuations on the stock market in April 2008 privately placed some 20% of their equity with a Malaysian bank for a cool sum of $ 850 million. If the Government had acted similarly, it could have generated sufficient flows to prevent the meltdown which ensued.
Reserves drawdown would have been avoided, the spread on our international bonds would have narrowed down to May 2007 levels, borrowing from the State Bank would have been halved and the government would have had a stable environment for tackling the oil import bill and food inflation. Our current predicament is clearly a creation of our current economic miss-management. A few heads should have rolled because of this incredible lapse
What could have been done in April/May 2008 with the market at 15700 points cannot be done in September/ October 2008 with the market at 9100 points. The international markets are closed to us. We have to wait until our markets get back to their historical levels and investor confidence is restored. How will this be hieved?
The biggest challenge for President Zardari is to restore the eroded;Pakistan Brand; back to its original luster and in the process revive the investment flows that can sustain our growth going forward.
First, while we should be on the right side of the world in the war on terror, the world should seriously help us in our endeavor to build a better economic future for our people. The new president has to focus on the economic issues facing the country. His international
trips to China, Saudi Arabia, Gulf, USA, UK should promote Pakistan economic interests as a pivotal objective. He should not only promote government to government economic cooperation but also promote private sector to private sector interaction with these countries. We need strong, immediate and implement able commitments of around $5 billion balance of payment support from these countries. In addition their leadership at the highest levels should support international moves to promote our economic growth and stability. Better and preferential access to EU and USA markets, greater quotas for labor and deferred payments for oil in Saudi Arabia and Gulf region.
A full calendar of investment conferences and single country exhibitions need to be carried out under the direction of the president. The promotion of exports and investments has to be the major focus and objective of the President. If we can generate foreign investments greater than last year level of $ 8 billion and export growth is revived to healthy double digit levels we would start coming out of the current malaise
Second, it is clear that Pakistan growing trade and current account deficit is being driven by ever escalating oil prices. With the oil bill crossing 12 billion a year there is no option other than passing the full prices to the consumers and eliminate the burden on the budget. This will also help in promoting conservation and improving energy efficiency.
Unfortunately the transition to a new government took place at a time of unprecedented increase in global fuel prices. For example at the time of elections oil prices were around $80 a bbl whereas by July 2008 it had reached $140 a bbl.
While we had planned to limit the fiscal deficit to be under 6 percent and largely financing it from non state bank sources, including commercial bank borrowing and non debt sources. The new government ended up with a much higher deficit level and financed it totally from the state bank.
We have now reached a stage where the issue is no longer energy availability rather it is energy affordability. We have almost 20000 MW of power generation capacity but we are only using 12000 MW because the Furnace oil used for thermal generation has become extremely expensive and beyond the ability of Pepco to pay for. As a result
available capacity is not being used leading to load shedding.
The exorbitant power price increase can only be avoided in the short run if transmission and distribution losses are dramatically curtailed and in the medium term we substitute imported fuel with domestic sources. Thermal power based on imported oil costs around Rs 16 per unit (Kwh) whereas hydel power from Kalabagh would cost Rs 2 per unit.
The power from Thar coal will cost around Rs 8 per unit. While Kalabagh can be completed in five years, Technical problems with Thar coal can delay its availability indefinitely.
If the mega Kalabagh Dam is launched in 2008 it will not only jump start the economy it will also be seen as President Zardari;s gift of Hydel Power to Pakistan just like PM Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Gift of Nuclear Power to Pakistan thirty five years ago
Third, as far as inflation is concerned it will start coming under control as global oil and food prices filter through the economy.
Our Inflation index is heavily weighted in favor of food energy and commodity prices. So it is highly sensitive to these prices. Since global energy and food prices are easing the same should be felt in Pakistan in the days to come.
Pakistan ‘ s inflation is a supply side and cost push phenomenon and further monetary tightening would not help. Instead a tighter fiscal policy with a lower deficit target and phasing out of borrowing from the state bank will help. At the same time in this period of great change we should ensure that the poor of the poorest are able to cope with the changes particularly higher food prices and social safety nets are made fool proof so that nobody in Pakistan stays hungry.
Fourth, for the first time after 2nd world war agriculture commodity prices have moved in favor of the farmers. We have to ensure that we pass on this benefit of higher global prices to our farmers by deregulating agriculture prices. The only other incentive our farmers
need is predictable water supply. This can be ensured by building more water reservoirs and better water management so that farmers can move from unpredictable subsistence agriculture to commercial agriculture.
Study after study in the sub-continent has shown that large multi purpose dams are the quickest way out of poverty. With oil prices at $100 per barrel and destined to double over the next decade there is no way, other than developing our full hydel potential quickly to usher in a new green revolution and providing sustainable gobal advantage to our economy of cheap hydel power.
Fifth, we should stop cribbing about the Consumer economy. Pakistan is a large country with 160 million people and 100 million under the age of 25.
With dependency ratios going down we can reap a demographic dividend over the next several decades. While these youngster have to be prepared for the work force they are already becoming a huge engine of growth for our markets that are growing at fabulous rates to meet the demands of these Pakistani baby boomers, Just like in Europe and South Korea after the 2nd world war, our baby boomers will be the back bone of our middle class and will determine the growth of our economy over the next 40 years until they start to retire
This gives our businesses an historic opportunity to grow and produce the goods and services the population needs. In an era when world is facing a crisis of aging populations we are blessed with opportunities of a young and dynamic population. In this regard consumer financing which has become a butt of criticism has just scratched the surface.
In our country consumer finance is around 5 % of GDP whereas in the developed world it is over 100% of GDP. Consumer financing has a long way to go and along the way it will continue to be one of the engines of growth for us. Any ill founded moves to curtail the consumer economy will hamper the growth of our businesses. We are now going beyond textiles into engineering, electronics, chemicals, food processing, construction materials, real estate and many other sectors based on our domestic markets as these markets continue to expand we will reach economies of scale that will make our producers and the
large associated vendor industry competitive on a global scale and the same producers will be the base for diversifying our exports into more sophisticated and fast growing sectors of the world. Ultimately if our law and order permits and our national psyche adopts rules of
globalization, and globalization as our road to prosperity we will become one of the workshops of the world along with India and China.
Sixth, there are hundreds of infrastructure projects at various stages of implementation including the National trade corridor, Neelum Jhelum hydro power project, KKH upgradation, Urban renewal in Karachi and Lahore, mass transport projects, airports, Baluchistan road network,Gawadar port, industrial parks etc., these projects have to be completed on time and scope. The last government also created an Infrastructure project development facility (IPDF) that needs to be fully utilized so that we can bump up (almost double ) our expenditure on infrastructure particularly hydel projects through public private partnerships.
Seventh, The FBR has to continue generating revenues for the government to carry out the nation building programs. Last year a target of over 4 trillion rupees was set for FBR within the next ten years, four times the current levels reaching about 16 % of GDP. Along with a target of 4 percent of GDP for education expenditures with 1.5% allocated to university education. The education strategy was based on providing universal access to primary education, retaining enrollments into secondary education and technical and vocational training and improving standards at the college and university levels.
Nine new engineering universities in collaboration with European, Korean and Chinese universities were in the pipeline. Going forward we should focus on quality improvement through a big push forward in teacher training, curriculum development and public private
partnerships at the primary and secondary schools level and continued efforts to upgrade the universities and hopefully achieving the setup of the new engineering schools. The national vocational and technical education commission (NAVTEC) has gone through its learning curve and can now be used to upscale its programs to give technical and vocational training a quantum jump.
Eighth, in the financial sector we have created a world class banking system with our banks featuring amongst the leaders in Asia. The Quality of our bankers is second to none and can work in any global setting. The challenge is to further increase the reach and competitiveness of the financial sector with Microfinance playing a much greater role. Our microfinance frameworks are the best in the world and a strong base has been established which can grow manifold to bring financial services to the masses.
The growth of the financial sector will continue at a sizzling rate as the financial sector expands into consumer and housing finance, rural and agriculture finance and development of debt and bond markets, growth of mutual funds, pension funds and other savings instruments.
Ninth, in the competitiveness area we must continue to deregulate and privatize the economy to create a vibrant and competitive economy.
Second generation reforms in economic management have to be continued. An essential pillar of a private sector led market economy, the Competition Commission has to be given financial independence and allowed to work unhindered. The competitiveness support fund, business support fund, agriculture support fund, Khushal Pakistan fund, Smeda etc. have to be used to implement reforms that help the market economy become more productive and competitive from the grass roots level up to the corporate level.
Finally Pakistan needs to continue to grow at 7 to 8 percent to create the 3 to 4 million new jobs per year needed to accommodate our youth and create a dent in poverty in our lifetime. We cannot embrace isolationism, jihadism or any other form of global confrontationist movements.
Instead we have to build on our successes, unleash the potential of our people, exploit our competitive advantages, take advantage of global finance, integrate with global markets, and continue building a dynamic market economy with world class infrastructure to achieve our growth objectives This is the recipe for the future and the way forward for Pakistan.
APPENDIX A
NEEDS OF THE PAKISTANI NATION
Without a lot of ceremony, here is a list of requirements of the Pakistani nation:
1. For our role in the proxy wars of the past century Pakistanis deserve the following. Here a bill to be handed over to “the powers to be”.
2. We want Bullet Trains running from the Karakorum’s and beyond to Gwader and beyond.
3. We want a modern train system and underground railways for our cities.
4. We want Water and sewage lines in our major cities and our towns and villages.
5. We want 1000 proper schools for our children and we want $100 million
6. 2500 brand new world class hospitals. $ 1 Billion.
7. Compare to the USA: (Total Number of all U.S. registered hospitals: 5759
8. Total staffed beds in all U.S. registered hospitals: 955,768
9. Teach Urdu, English, Farsi, Arabic and Chinese in all schools. Also optional languages Punjabi, Kashmiri, Pahari, Hindkoh, Saraki, Pushto, Baluchi, Brahvi, Sindhi, Darri, Potohari. $ 50 million
10. We want 500 modern libraries spread all over the country. Build a library larger than the one in Alexandria. $250 million compare to 117,378 libraries in the USA
11. We want a Motorway system to link all cities of Pakistan, North and South, East and West. $10 billion
12. We need 10 new major airports linked by High Speed Trains. $10 Billion
13. We want 50 million “$100 computers” for Pakistanis in Urdu and all local languages. $100 million
14. We want “kachi abadis” to disappear from our cities. We want to see skyscraper and government housing for all the poor who can be used for labor to build the building. $ 5 Billion
15. We want 100 power plants to eliminate the shortage of electricity in the country.$ 500 million
16. We want 5 major dams and 100 minor dams to prevent the acute water shortage in the country. $ 500 million
17. We want 100 ships for the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation so that Pakistan can become a major sea faring nation able to handle the trade. $ 5 Billion
18. We have to quadruple the yield for our Cotton, Milk and Wheat production benchmarked against the USA, Australia and Canada. $1 Billion
19. Get ship load of Sri Lankan teachers to eliminate illiteracy in Pakistan. $ 10 million
20. Get boatloads of Malaysian manufacturers to setup electronic manufacturing in Pakistan
21. Get train loads of Koreans to build 10 new planned cities in Pakistan. $ 10 Billion
22. Get a plane load of the Swiss to build world class ski resorts and amusement parks and develop our archeological sites as wonders of the world. $ 2 Billion
23. Get busloads of Chinese to build industrial parks in Pakistan. $ 10 Billion
24. We want to reclaim millions of acres of desert in Baluchsitan for our future generations. $ 3 Billion
25. And Oh! Yes Northern Areas are part and parcel of Pakistan not to be bartered away to anyone. Don’t even think of giving up Kashmir!
26. Does this list look expensive? Not really. The cost of all this is in the league of $38 Billion that was offered to Turkey for transit rights into Iraq, which the Turkish parliament turned down. Even if it double or triple that amount, we deserve it.
LET US FOCUS ONLY ON EDUCATION FOR STARTERS:
1) Malaysia focused on primary schools, and Ghana focused on Higher education. For the first 20 years after independence Malaysia did not build any universities at all. Malaysia built primary and secondary schools. The results have shown phenomenal growth for education in Malaysia and dismal results in Ghana.
2) Sri Lanka a country ridden with an ongoing civil war as well as penury stricken population and poverty laden infrastructure was able to life the country out of illiteracy and today has the highest literacy rates in Asia as well one of the highest literacy rates in the world.
3) Abdus Sattar Edhi lives in a corrupt society where the government in unable and unwilling to provide social benefits to its population. Abdus Sattar Edhi runs a fleet of more than 500 ambulances, helicopters and planes. He also has orphanages, women’s shelters, and provides death and burial services to the poor in all urban centers of Pakistan. He is scrupulously honest. He has received many international awards and boasted that his personal account has more than $85 million. Edhi sleeps in his office and wears the clothes donated by the family of a dead person for 10 days
His organization needs to be duplicated.
4) Bangladesh after the trauma of 1971 asked all of its graduates to devote 1 year of their lives. They would only receive a degree if they made sure that two illiterate people would become literate. Paksitan should force all intermediate to educate 5 people and all graduates to educate and make literate 10 people before they can get degrees. NADRA should ensure that there is no duplication of people and there is no fraud.
5) Cuba is one of the most sanctioned countries in the world. It also has one of the best and most comprehensive medical systems in the world. All Cubans are educated and have good medical attention. Hundreds of Cuban volunteers stayed in Pakistan in the earthquake. Cuba and Pakistan established diplomatic relations and Cuba offered 1000 fully paid scholarships to Pakistanis. This system has to be institutionalized and Pakistan needs to learn from Cuba.
6) Karachi has one of the highest literacy in the nation. All Karachi schools run in double shifts and have been running on double shifts for more than 40 years. The Muhajirs have almost a 100% literacy rate. All Pakistani government schools must run on double shifts.
7) Bangladesh developed Grameen Bank. A lot of this has been discussed on this, but the fact remains that this is the “Committee system” used by urban and rural housewives for generations. Grameen offers small loans, mainly to women. Grameen boasts a non-existent default rate because the five or ten members in the “committee” depend on the person to return the loan. This has improved the conditions of the poorest.
Turkey has used the capitalist system to eliminate “katchi abadis”, by developing partnerships with the public and private sectors. All the residents of a “katchi abadi” are registered. This list is frozen. Some elected representatives are chosen to work with the government for regularization of the land. The land is used as collateral to get a load to build a new village which includes a) a school b) a hospital c) a shopping mall d) a mosque e) and a high rise building which provides basic amnesties to all the residents. The “katchi abadi” residents cannot sell the land or the building. This goes into a trust. The shops generate funds for the community and a certain number of apartments are sold to the general public and rented to the general public to generate funds for the building. All “katchi abadi” residents thus get decent housing, eyesores are eliminated from the cities, and the venture is commercially feasible.
9) A list needs to be generated of all government run schools. These need to be mapped. All ghost schools need to be listed and identified in a database posted on the internet.
10) Every district has to be identified where schools do not exist.
11) A central Education Emergency Center (EEC)* office needs to be established in every district to create lists of all illiterate persons in the district. The EEC office also lists all children in the district, especially the mother of girls in a database. * Need to think of a good name IN URDU & LOCAL LANGUAGES FOR THE EEC.
12) The EEC Iqra (Insaf *** R*** Area) sets up adult literacy training to all the mothers and adults as well as the children.
13) The EEC establishes schools in one room homes or open air schools, and even under peepal trees or tents. Initially the EEC may use government buildings to train adults and mothers and children in the 2nd shift. As funding becomes available the schools will have an infrastructure. Where possible, the EEC schools will build its own schools
14) The EEC establishes FM radio network and a TV channel for adult education. Australian children who cannot commute to schools used to be taught via CB radios and HAM radios. Today this can and must be established via the internet.
15) Many organizations have created products for the 3rd world a) Hand cranked laptops hooked to network by peer-to-peer network b) solar ovens c) solar powered refrigerator d) cheap toilets d) biogas generators e) wind power tube wells. All of these and others have to listed, prioritized and used in the EEC centers
16) The EEC must set up votechnical centers to teach adults and children basic skills in a) plumbing b) woodworking/carpentry c) electrical works d) computer assembly e) Improving harvesting techniques f) Supply chain improvement and Storage improvement of vegetables and fruits g) Identification of better seeds, and informing farmers about the better seeds to improve per hector yields h)
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