PETROLEUM CRISIS LINGERS ON ....

PETROLEUM CRISIS

Does the suspension of four bureaucrats enough?

Amidst lingering petroleum crisis in many parts of the country, including Punjab and the federal capital, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took stern notice of the issue as soon as he landed at the Lahore airport from abroad on Saturday (Jan 17) and suspended four top bureaucrats for failing to deal with the crisis.

Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, however, managed to survive the crisis for being a close political associate of the premier amidst demands of his sacking for lack of planning and oversight.

Taking notice of acute shortage of petrol in different parts of the country, Nawaz Sharif convened an urgent meeting of top officials at the Lahore airport on his return home after a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia. The four suspended officers responsible for the crisis include Petroleum Secretary Abid Saeed, Additional Petroleum Secretary Naeem Malik, Oil DG CM Azam, and Pakistan State Oil (PSO) Managing Director Amjad Janjua. The prime minister also directed provincial governments to check black-marketing of petrol. It was decided to expedite the supply and delivery of petrol.

 

As if the misery brought on by the severe gas and electricity crises was not enough, citizens of the country are now in the grip of a massive petrol shortage, probably of the likes we have never seen before. The state-owned Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has run out of oil because it has not been paid upwards of Rs 200 billion that it is owed, making it limp and unable to purchase the necessary petrol needed to sustain the economy and the everyday workings of the people. This comes in the wake of the global drop in oil prices whereby the amenity-starved public in Pakistan was daring to breathe a sigh of relief. With the unprecedented drop in prices, consumer demand went up, especially after the availability of CNG became little more than a pipedream. But how could the powers that be let that happen? Staying true to its incompetent self, the government turned a deaf ear to the cries and pleas of the higher ups in the PSO demanding payment of dues to clear credit and purchase more fuel.

 

The circular debt issue sees the government refusing to pay the core companies that need to be paid the most and before all other concerns. These folks in power choose to pursue other avenues, other causes to ‘serve’ the public such as the Metro Bus Project and the Yellow Cab Scheme but they do not think about facilitating the people on basic provisions. How can the government justify turning a blind eye to fuel, the very essence of a thriving, working nation? Heads need to start rolling now. How can ministers responsible for this debacle be allowed to continue in this manner when an entire people has to queue for hours on end outside petrol pumps to be given rationed petrol to send their children to school, go to work and transport goods? There will soon be a riot at these pumps — in Lahore only 10 percent are operational — with people’s anger reaching flammable levels. The sheer mismanagement and idiocy of the current regime makes the energy-deprived years of the PPP seem like a term in paradise with people at least obtaining petrol to keep their motors running. The Nawaz Sharif government has employed nothing but ostriches who have buried their heads so far into the sand that they cannot hear the plight of the masses. They need to be unceremoniously sacked and bills need to be paid. There are no two ways about it. 

 

The petrol crisis has become substantially worse in the fifth day of its acute shortage. There are queues upon queues of cars and motorcycles, numbering more than 500 at a time, lined up outside the measly few petrol pumps that are open and rationing their stock. The people are losing patience and the frustration they are feeling could erupt any minute. Some petrol pumps are remaining shut because they are too scared of any potential violence and rioting if they open for business. The situation is escalating from bad to worse very quickly and if something is not done soon, the government will have a very large, very decisive problem on its hands, one that would make the August 14 onwards protests pale in comparison.

As usual, there is no one to blame but the government itself for creating this crisis. Pakistan State Oil (PSO) is helpless in the face of bills being unpaid and no credit left to its name to beg for or borrow any more fuel. A bare minimum of Rs 100 billion is required to improve the situation and that too will take a few weeks to purchase and transport stocks, replenishing the system. So far, the payment has not been made. The country’s depletion of CNG led consumers to switch to petrol, increasing demand and adding the pressure. Couple that with the substantial dip in global oil prices, with people readily using petrol for all their transport needs, and the demand supply chain simply could not cope. Many oil marketing companies were also caught slacking, not keeping the mandatory two weeks stock of reserves to help mitigate such an issue. It was a recipe for complete and utter disaster, and the government has been caught sleeping, ignoring the enormity of the issue. Does the government have a plan of action? According to the petroleum ministry, the petrol crisis might improve in another week’s time whilst other reports suggest that there really is no time frame because nothing can be done without the government moving to fix all default payments. The people will no longer listen to false promises or empty rhetoric. What is needed is a solution, a plan to eliminate all these debilitating shortages of which the petrol crisis is just one. There is no electricity for most of the day, no gas and now no petrol. We are now being told that because of the oil shortage, the power crisis will worsen. How long does the government think it has before the masses, deprived of every amenity imaginable, turn violent on the streets? 

TERRORISM A LA MODE

    Terrorism has many faces. The sooner we recognise this, the sooner all the recent hoopla about crushing terrorism in the wake of the Peshawar barbarity will assume concrete, comprehensive and effective shape. The attack by baton-wielding fanatics on a peaceful candle-lit vigil to commemorate the fourth death anniversary of murdered Governor Salmaan Taseer at Liberty Chowk, Lahore, must surely be counted amongst the long chain of terrorist or terrorist-inspired attacks over the years. The attackers did not even spare the media covering the vigil, subjecting them, as the video footage shows, to pushing, shoving, kicking over their equipment, letting the media personnel feel the sharp lash of their batons, etc. The police on duty remained bystanders, allowing these fanatics to take the law into their own hands. When after the attack, the SP police in charge of the area was asked on television why this was so, he lied through his teeth that no police were deployed at the site of the incident and that the police had only responded to a distress call after the event. Anyone familiar with any manifestation at Liberty Chowk over the years knows that no matter how big or small the protest, police are always deployed there.

    Eyewitnesses confirm police were on the spot but did nothing to stop the violent attack on peaceful demonstrators. Although the protestors have registered a report at the local police station, the chances of action being taken against the offending maulvis, all of whose faces were caught by the cameras, are slim, to say the least. Nor is it likely that the police who did not perform their duty to uphold the law, protect the right of the protestors to peacefully express themselves, and prevent such an untoward incident will even be punished. For one, the police deployed there probably share the mindset of Salmaan Taseer’s cowardly coldblooded killer Mumtaz Qadri, who too was a policeman of the special security detail of the late Governor when he riddled him with bullets from behind as he left an Islamabad restaurant. Second, who does not know the penchant and tricks of the police when one of their own has broken or fallen foul of the law they are supposed to defend? No, we are not hopeful of an outcome that upholds the law, the rights of the protestors to peaceful assembly, or the fundamental principles of a democratic society. We now look to the Punjab government of Shahbaz Sharif to see what if any action it takes on the matter. If it does nothing, or muddies the water to get the attackers and the police guilty of dereliction of duty off the hook, not only will it blacken its face, it will encourage the revival of the accusations against it of being soft on terrorism and terrorists.

    Salmaan Taseer did not do anything to deserve the fate he suffered. He bravely stood up for a poor illiterate Christian woman falsely accused of blasphemy and, in one more miscarriage of justice under these controversial laws, Aasia bibi was sentenced to death, a verdict shamefully upheld by the Lahore High Court. The inherent problem in blasphemy cases is the tendency of the courts to rely on hearsay and less than credible witnesses’ word against that of the accused. In a trailer of what many fear will happen when the military courts being touted as the panacea to terrorism start operating, blasphemy accused are subconsciously or even explicitly presumed guilty even before they come to trial, that is if they have not been killed first by vigilante mobs, as happened to the Christian couple in Kot Radha Kishan who were tortured and then thrown into a brick kiln. The fact that the woman was five months pregnant did not sway the beasts who carried out this murder. There too the police did nothing to prevent the crime. Clearly, Aasia bibi and the Christian couple in question were considered children of a lesser God.

    The tragedy of Salmaan Taseer’s assassination was compounded by his abandonment by his own party, the PPP, and all other forces in our insane society. Had that not been so, had the courage to confront obscurantist maulvis who exploit religion for their vested interests, including defending the blasphemy laws as if they had descended straight from heaven, been on display four years ago, perhaps Pakistan would not have suffered many other tragedies since. Even now, after the Peshawar massacre of schoolchildren, it may not be too late to salvage this bruised and wounded society. But for that, terrorism in any shape or form, including the intolerance, violence and violation of the law and democratic right of peaceful assembly and protest on display in Liberty Chowk must be dealt with severely and crushed. Courtesy DT

SPECIAL COURTS FOR 'A SPECIAL COUNTRY’

Concerns about the Special Courts (SCs) to be set up under military presiding officers continue to be voiced from diverse quarters. Co-chairperson of the PPP Asif Ali Zardari, in his speech at the seventh death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto in Garhi Khuda Baksh, expressed his apprehension regarding the misuse of the SCs against politicians like himself and Nawaz Sharif, who could find themselves s behind bars if such a development occurred. The constitutional amendment under preparation for bringing in the SCs should not, he warned, become a ‘black’ law, based on the experience of previous such steps in the past. He categorically rejected the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Taliban binary. He reminded his audience that if the massacre of PPP’s jiyalas in Karachi in 2007 on Benazir’s return had been taken seriously, subsequent tragic incidents including Peshawar could have been avoided. 

While there is weight in this argument, it should not be forgotten that of the seven years since the tragic event in Karachi, the PPP was in power for five years. However, that government failed to either do much about the spread of terrorism itself or persuade the security establishment to do the same. In fact, the COAS at that time, General Kayani, after the military offensives in Swat and South Waziristan, dragged his feet over the necessary tackling of the terrorist safe havens in North Waziristan despite the fact that he had sufficient time to do this after he received an extension in his tenure to six years. Asif Zardari also tried to allay the apprehensions regarding his differences with son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, whose absence was keenly felt by the young workers of the party at the commemoration, which saw declining numbers this year as a reflection of the internal crisis of the PPP. Asif Zardari also attempted to scotch rumours of a falling out with Makhdoom Amin Fahim, the head of the PPP-Parliamentarians, asserting that Makhdoom would never betray the party and there were no cracks amongst the leadership. Leader of the Opposition Syed Khursheed Shah wanted Benazir Bhutto’s trial to be conducted by the SCs, which he said were accepted with a heavy heart while accepting the exigencies of the present situation.

Meanwhile MQM’s Farooq Sattar in a press conference in Karachi also added his voice to the concerns swirling around the SCs. He emphasised sticking to the sunset clause of two years for the SCs, and argued that local governments, citizens’ vigilance, community policing systems were necessary in the fight against terrorism. The SCs, he said, were only a temporary solution and that parliament should ensure the effective functioning of the so far moribund National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), He said his party only agreed to the setting up of the SCs after strong assurances from the government that their functioning would be restricted to terrorism-related cases. Farooq Sattar offered all the manpower of MQM to ensure the security of schools in the aftermath of the Peshawar massacre, pointing to the fears of school managements, parents and children in this regard. Lawyers in Karachi too expressed themselves in favour of strengthening the existing criminal justice system as the long term solution to the terrorist challenge, regarding the SCs as a temporary measure.

The Peshawar tragedy and the steps announced by the government in its wake have not gone unnoticed worldwide. While the massacre has been widely condemned amidst a show of sympathy and solidarity with the victims and the people of Pakistan, concerns regarding the lifting of the moratorium on executions continue to reverberate. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif to urge a halt to executions. However, the PM argued that extraordinary situations required extraordinary steps while reassuring the Secretary General that legal norms would be respected while dealing with all terrorist cases. The PM consulted his legal aides on Saturday regarding options for setting up the SCs and asked that all parties be taken along in the constitutional amendment and other steps. He also emphasised that legal protection be provided to members of the armed forces in the context of anti-terrorist operations and sectarian terrorists be included in the ambit of the strategy. The PM has set up an umbrella monitoring committee and under it 15 sub-committees with time frames for finalising their recommendations. While the government seems to be getting up to speed on the National Action Plan, no one should labour under the illusion that this will be a short war. Staying the course therefore is of utmost importance. DT

MERE AZIZ HUMWATNO!

I am changed man, meray aziz humwatno, after tragic Peshawar incident. I have resolved that we are now going to definitely take on the terrorists and destroy them. Definitely. Definitely maybe. Inshallah. Perhaps pukka. You will see, by God’s will and sort of firm resolve of political and military leadership of fractured state of Pakistan. Slightly firm resolve. Or should I say, almost firm resolve, hain ji? There is no doubt that these Taliban are barbarians. They are a criminal network. They are behind kidnapping of people also. Sometimes they keep people as ostriches until ransom is paid. Where they keep them, we hear from escapees, are like consternation camps of Nazis where they kept Jews.

This mindset has destroyed peace of our land. We are all brothers and sisters. On occayion of Christmas, I gave such a nice, sweet speech about all of us being same to same. I said even mosques are like churches and other places of worship. Only difference is that roof of mosque is doomed, unlike church which has poking roof. I have been saying these sweet things so that no pogroms against Christians take place during Christmas holidays. Afsos (sorrow) that total of holidays is only two, sadly. Total is when you add up all the numbers and the remainder is the animal that pulls Santa Claus on his sleigh.

For Christmas, American ambassador asked us to see Nativity Play at embassy. In the play, His Excellency played the main prat. British High Commissioner had a minor prat and I told him that next year he must have the main prat because Britishers are batter actors than Americans. All diplomats present spoke of time of reckoning for Pakistan. They said it was now or never. To show off my knowledge I said, “what a pity we don’t have a Joan of Arc. She was great lady who was burned as a steak.”

The Danish ambassador started laughing, “Well, what do you know!” he exclaimed and laughed and laughed. “Excuse me, Excellency”, I said, “I know a lot. The Danish are from Denmark. The Norwegians are from Norway. And the Lapdancers are from Lapland.”

Courtesy TFT

IT’S ‘NOW OR NEVER’ FOR GOVERNMENT AGAINST TERRORISTS

Since the Peshawar tragedy, the security and law enforcing agencies have become hyperactive. All through the length and breadth of the country, reports speak of raids, encounters and the killing or arrest of alleged terrorists. Thus on Monday, 15 ‘terrorists’ were gunned down in Afghan Basti near Al Asif Square, Karachi, and one captured in a raid claimed to have been conducted on a meeting of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP’s) Khan Zaman Group. Another suspect in the Peshawar attack was picked up in a raid on Mohalla Khursheed Abad, Karachi. At least 120 suspects were rounded up in the Mansehra district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Amongst the 117 suspects arrested in Islamabad in a ‘search’ operation, 20 are said to be Afghans. 

In contrast with this flurry of raids and arrests, Malik Ishaq of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is being freed after the Punjab government withdrew its application to extend his expired detention, raising questions about the consistency of approach of the anti-terrorist drive and whether the judiciary’s penchant for sticking to the letter of the law needs appropriate legislation to deal with the special exigencies of the terrorist challenge. One anomaly that has already arisen is the staying of executions of five convicts by the Lahore High Court and two by the Sindh High Court. Both sets of suspensions of executions were based on the defence questioning whether trials by military courts of civilians were kosher, and whether their proceedings met standards of due process. The prosecution has been instructed by Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif to appeal the suspensions in the light of the current hanging spree the authorities seem bent upon as a deterrent message to the terrorists.

Even if all the ‘successes’ of recent days of the anti-terrorist drive are taken at face value, the question lingers what miraculous improvement has occurred overnight in the security and law enforcement agencies’ capabilities to lead them unerringly to the alleged terrorists. Or is it the case that these elements were already known but the requisite political will and ‘go-ahead’ signal from the higher authorities was missing till now? Given the track record of our police and security agencies, it would not come as a complete surprise if the pressure from on high to ‘show results’ is leading to sweeps and dragnets that are more interested in numbers killed and arrested rather than the credibility and provability of any and all charges against those killed or detained. In other words, are our police and security establishment genuinely laying hands on the enemy or simply indulging in karwai (action for show)? The question is critical to the success or failure of the seeming newfound determination to root out terrorism and, as PM Nawaz Sharif put it, their facilitators and defenders in the cities and villages throughout the country. 

The Senate in its debate on the Peshawar incident has come up with some interesting arguments. Demanding practical steps to counter the internal security threats, the members of the upper chamber of parliament asked the government to ensure not only the hanging of terrorists but also those who kill people in the name of religion, pointing in particular to the murderer of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer. They were of the view that the Peshawar tragedy was a total failure of the federal and provincial governments and intelligence agencies. They demanded an effective and meaningful operation against the terrorists and their supporters, apologists and all those who mislead people by misusing the name of religion. Meanwhile a new controversy has broken out about reports that the threat of an attack like Peshawar had been intimated months ago by the intelligence agencies but it seems there was no one in charge of following up on the information and taking necessary pre-emptive steps. And that is the glaring hole in the current counter-terrorism regime: the lack of a coordinating, decision making centre that can bring together disparate agencies and data to mount an effective riposte to the terrorists’ plans in a proactive manner rather than simply react (and that too in knee-jerk fashion) to actual attacks and atrocities.

Pakistan is at a moment of truth. How we go forward from here will determine if this is also a history changer or one more hiccup along the road of our confusion as a state and society. Without a consistent policy against all forms and manifestations of terrorism, whether outward facing or internal, the country cannot find the badly needed salvation from this threat that it craves. 

Courtesy: Daily Times 

THE BLACKEST DAY (16 DECEMBER, 2014)

THE SMALLEST COFFINS ARE THE HEAVIEST

There are times when the barbarity we witness is so gut wrenching and horrific that we are left without words. Tuesday’s attack by Taliban militants on the Army Public School in Peshawar has left the entire country enveloped in a thick shroud of silence and grief, united in our disbelief that anyone, even the militants who have killed and hurt so many in this land, could stoop so low as to kill so many innocent children. At the time of writing this, news reports are coming in that as many as 141 people have been killed, 132 of them students, with scores more injured. These students were helpless, targeted and eliminated by Taliban suicide attackers and gunmen determined to inflict as much damage as possible to the heart and soul of this nation. Reports tell of how militants stormed onto the school premises during assembly time in the morning, with one detonating his suicide jacket, and opening indiscriminate fire on the hundreds of children. They went from classroom to classroom shooting the children in the head at point blank range — one survivor told of how children belonging to army backgrounds were picked out and gunned down.

 

The siege lasted till the later hours of the evening with reports telling of seven militants being killed by the army. Terror stricken parents gathered outside the school and hospitals, looking for their dead and injured children. They had left their homes in school uniforms and were retrieved in body bags. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility. There is no way the country and its leadership can let this one go; there is no way a solid, chapter-turning decision cannot be made after what is, no doubt, a national tragedy.

For the last many months, we have been urging the government to reassess its counterterrorism strategy, to take the right steps and initiate the right policy so that we do not witness this kind of atrocity. Last year, the PML-N government drew up the National Security Policy (NSP) to show that it was ‘serious’ in countering the growing terror threat in the country. Much noise was made about the strengthening of the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) to coordinate and assemble all efforts to fight the terror threat. However, we have yet to see any concrete steps taken to bring the moribund NACTA to life or the NSP to fruition. In this very space we have been cautioning the government and military to not be complacent or think that the terror threat has abated since the start of Operation Zarb-e-Azb in June this year. The military operation was expected to knock the militants onto the backfoot and degrade their communication and organisational structure but there was always the promise of a blowback. Despite these constant reminders, the authorities were lulled into complacency. December 16, 2014 was the culmination of that false sense of security and we are now gasping for breath. This has been a year of some high profile targets: Karachi International Airport, Wagah border and now the children of Peshawar. Where is the famed NSP? Where is NACTA now?

The government and military must understand once and for all that we are at war. There are no two ways about it; the nation is paying the cost in the blood of its people and now its children. What is needed is a proper counterterrorism strategy that will pr-empt terror attacks before they happen; there is no point in providing security and protection after the fact. Intelligence gathering, security forces and the police are all needed to bring together this kind of umbrella organisation. What is needed is a long-term response. What is needed is a final end to this terror. What is needed is a fitting response to the blackest day we have ever lived through. 

JUNAID JAMSHED OF JJ AND J. UNDER A DOT!

The singer turned fashion house owner turned Islamic preacher Junaid Jamshed also known as JJ during a talk show committed an act of blasphemy. A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against him at the Police Station Risala, Karachi, on 2 December 2014 on the directives of a District and Sessions Court (South) after mounting pressure from influential Sunni clerics at Numaish Chowrangi. The owner of JJ and J. (read J Dot) - mens’ Shalwar Kurta brand, Jamshed is currently incommunicado and his whereabouts are unclear.

The dark stain of the blasphemy laws has been turned on its head in a twist that is as ironic as can be. Junaid Jamshed, the pop star-turned-orthodox Islamic preacher, has been charged with blasphemy after some inappropriate remarks made by him in a televised sermon. He was speaking, in his usual misogynistic manner, about the nature of women and used the example of Hazrat Aisha, the revered wife of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) to illustrate his point. This act of his has unleashed the ‘blasphemy mob’ with many clerics distancing themselves from Mr Jamshed — particularly those belonging to the Tableeghi Jamaat of which he is a part — and one cleric from the Sunni Tehreek getting a blasphemy case filed against him.

 

Things are not looking good for Junaid Jamshed. He even posted a teary, desperate video of himself apologising for the remarks he made, stating that his ignorance is to blame. However, even after that statement of regret, reports are now emerging that the famous religious preacher has fled to the ‘secular’ shores of the UK in fear of his life. After more than a decade preaching God’s word and being a known figure on the sermon circuit, Junaid Jamshed has been damned by the blasphemy madness that has taken Pakistan in its vice-like grip.

While some may be amused by the fact that a staunch religious preacher is being cannibalised by his own, the whole affair is certainly no laughing matter. We have been seeing a frightening upswing of blasphemy cases recently with people being lynched and murdered — the most atrocious being the burning of a Christian couple in a brick kiln — by the ‘protectors’ of the faith, angry mobs driven by the vitriol of the nearest mullah. Now that a famous cleric is also receiving the same kind of treatment we can rest assured about one thing: this monster does not discriminate. Something must be done.

Whilst many sane, levelheaded individuals may not agree with the gender bashing and orthodox ideologies of people such as Junaid Jamshed, one cannot condone anyone, including him, being subjected to the barbaric treatment that all blasphemy accused are given. They are shot in jail cells by members of the police force, they are tortured and killed by manic crowds and no sense of mercy seems to prevail. This has gone on long enough. The blasphemy laws must be amended before all logic and rationale completely abandon this land. 

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