We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others.
Will Rogers
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CONTENTS:
0 Give Back to the People Their Common Law Rights
By Dr. Brian Benfield
0 Industrialists' Estate
By Shahzada Irfan Ahmed
0 Letters from the Press
0 FreePakistan News Briefs
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DISCOVER YOUR POLITICAL LEANINGS! World's Smallest Political Quiz
Take the Quiz now and find out where you fit on the political map!
http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html
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What is Philosophy of Liberty? A screensaver by Lux Lucre and Ken Schoolland explains it.
Download and install it. http://www.free-market.net/rd/321907219.html ; http://www.jonathangullible.com
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ALTERNATE SOLUTIONS INSTITUTE PUBLISHES ITS FIRST BOOK OF TRANSLATION
Alternate Solutions Institute, Lahore, Pakistan, has published its first book of translation, Ken Schoolland's "The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible: A Free Market Odyssey," in Urdu which is understood not only in Pakistan but throughout South Asia. Ken's modern fable has so far been published in 29 languages of the world Urdu being the 30th. This book explains the principles of market economy in a simple manner and helps promote the concepts of open market and property rights. The book has been translated into Urdu by Khalil Ahmad. A. S. Institute is indebted to Irshad Ameen for his tireless efforts in getting the book out of the press.
It is hoped that the book will give a new direction to the discussion of welfare state in Pakistan.
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HOW TO END ALL WARS FOREVER
Aslam Effendi, an old and unsung Libertarian of Pakistan, has written three books on free market philosophy: HOW TO END ALL WARS FOREVER, HARD FACTS OF HISTORY, and, ECONOMICS FOR THE CONFUSED. When no publisher agreed to invest in the project, he spent out of his own pocket to get HOW TO END ALL WARS FOREVER printed. But, for want of a distributor, this book which has been praised as a classic remained dumped and could not find its way to the market. For details, read ‘Aslam Effendi: A Free Marketeer in Pakistan’
or visit http://asinstitute.org/articles.php. Alternate Solutions Institute, Lahore, Pakistan, has purchase all the copies of the book from Aslam Effendi to make it available to the right persons and to compensate the author as well.
A. S. Institute intends to publish all of his books; if you are interested in this project, please contact at the above-given email addresses.
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A. S. INSTITUTE, LAHORE, BESTOWED WITH FREE-MARKET.NET PARTNERSHIP
WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST PARTNER!
Free-Market.Net and International Society for Individual Liberty welcome our newest partner, the Alternate Solutions Institute. It's Pakistan's first free-market think tank.
Check them out! http://www.free-market.net/rd/662930769.html
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GIVE BACK TO THE PEOPLE THEIR COMMON LAW RIGHTS
By Dr. Brian Benfield
[Dr Brian Benfield is the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Free Market Foundation. The views expressed in the article are the author’s and are not necessarily shared by the members of the Free Market Foundation. < http://www.libertarian.to/NewsDta/templates/www.freemarketfoundation.com >]
Why politicians should stop trying to ‘develop’ the common law?
When Jan Van Riebeeck set foot on the shores of Table Bay on April 6, 1652 he brought with him the Roman-Dutch law that became the basis on which the entire South African legal system is built. This law originated in the law of the Roman Empire, which can be traced back to the bronze tablets on which the ‘Twelve Tables’ (the earliest documentation of customary law) were inscribed in 449 BC. Roman law was gradually absorbed into the Germanic law of Western Europe and it was this Roman-Dutch law that Van Riebeeck brought with him.
After the second British occupation of the Cape in 1806, English law began to influence the developing South African legal system. Today, Roman-Dutch law in South Africa remains a rich and growing system, greatly strengthened by the various legal traditions that constitute it, including age-old indigenous African customary law. The ‘common law’ of South Africa has therefore come to us through centuries of Greek, Roman, European, English and African experience.
WHAT IS COMMON LAW?
In every generation, people have been drawn toward two desirable but widely separated and contradictory goals. The first of these is the goal of permanence, stability and certainty in legal doctrines. The second is the goal of flexibility or adaptability of the law to the social necessities of the day. The tension here is not necessarily a conflict between factions, parties or groups of people. It exists in the legal thought of every judge.
People generally accept that what was just and right in one generation should not be disturbed in the next. Permanence and stability in the law emerges from the Roman doctrine of stare decisis, or the practice of looking at precedents and authority whilst formulating a legal principle. This doctrine assumes that court decisions have been reasonable and that what was reasonable in one century will be reasonable in another, even though in the meantime the most revolutionary social and political changes may have occurred.
The Greeks, Romans, English and Africans believed in the notion of permanence in the law, imparted by its connection with immemorial custom. For them the law was not ‘made’. Rather, it was ‘declared’ or ‘discovered’ by jurists or tribal elders. This law was the ‘common law’ and was not a written code. For this reason, the principles of common law have always eluded complete embodiment in any code or collection of writings. For example, the common law principle that no one ought to be illegally deprived of their liberty may be found to be expressed in a judicial decision, a parliamentary statute or in a learned treatise on the writ of habeas corpus, but these writings merely echo the principle that exists in the form of generally accepted ‘common law’, whether ‘written’ or not.
The common law is therefore a body of ‘unwritten’ general rules prescribing social conduct, enforced by the ordinary courts and characterised by the development of its own principles in actual legal controversies and by the doctrine of the supremacy of law.
THE COMMON LAW ADAPTS TO CHANGING CONDITIONS AND PROVIDES CERTAINTY
The common law has survived largely because of its ability to adapt incrementally to new conditions. Judges have created precedents adding new rules to meet new social and economic circumstances. Acts of Parliament (Legislation) have contributed little to this process.
It is important to note the persistence and force in the modern world of ideas that people of the Middle Ages incorporated in the common law and which were reflected in the Magna Carta as far back as 1215. Foremost among these is the idea of the supremacy of law, a concept also expressed in such phrases as ‘the rule of law’ and ‘due process’. An essential feature of the common law system is that its principles are derived from decisions in actual cases in which judges play the principal part. Our legal tradition therefore clearly does not gravitate around legislation. The ‘discovery’ of the law, rather than its ‘making’ or ‘enactment’ in the form of parliamentary legislation, is what true law is all about. The law consequently develops in such a way that nobody in society is so powerful that he can identify his own will with that of the law of the land.
Should today’s politicians then attempt to ‘develop’ the common law by ‘making’ new law or should they rather respect, document and familiarise themselves with existing common and customary law? Apparently they should. The Constitution has been South Africa’s supreme law since 1996 and sections 8, 39 and 173 make it abundantly clear that it is the judges who are enjoined to ‘apply, protect and develop’ the common law of South Africa.
STATUTES OFTEN GIVE RISE TO INSTABILITY AND UNCERTAINTY
Whilst legislation is almost always thought of as certain, precise and recognisable, as long as it is ‘in force’, people can never be certain that it will be in force tomorrow. A legal system centred on legislation, while including the possibility that other people (the legislators) may interfere with your every-day actions, also includes the possibility that they may change their way of interfering with you tomorrow and every day thereafter. Legislation is therefore neither certain nor enduring.
Moreover, this fact is exacerbated by so-called ‘delegated legislation’ or ‘subordinate legislation’ which often changes at short notice and has the effect of circumventing parliament and of violating the division of powers enshrined in the Constitution. It places both legislative and executive powers in the hands of government officials, relying on some statutory enactment for legitimacy and enabling state interference, almost at will, with every kind of private interest and activity. It leads to the paradoxical situation of our times: that we are governed by men, not because we are not governed by laws, but because we are. Machiavelli himself would not have been able to contrive a more ingenious device to dignify the will of the tyrant who pretends to be a simple government official acting within the framework of a perfectly legal system.
This does not mean that legislation should be entirely discarded, although in excess it is largely incompatible with individual freedom, initiative and decision-making. South Africa has passed nearly 1,000 new Acts of Parliament in just 10 years to add to its existing mass of legislation. By contrast, Greek, Roman, English and African history teach us how independent of legislation those systems were and how to the ordinary people ‘the law’ meant the common law.
It is consequently no longer a question of deciding what special ‘good’ kind of legislation we should enact. It is a question of deciding whether individual freedom remains compatible with a legal system that centres increasingly on legislation when the richness of our common law is entirely adequate in almost every circumstance. Such a system suffers the same deficiencies as a centralised economy in which all the relevant decisions are made by a handful of bureaucrats whose knowledge of the whole situation is fatally limited and whose consequent actions cannot fail to show little respect for people’s wishes.
Legislation may also deliberately or accidentally disrupt the common law by nullifying existing conventions and agreements that have hitherto been voluntarily accepted and kept. The continual change of rules brought about by inflated legislation therefore prevents the successful and enduring replacement of that set of non-legislated rules (the common law) that happen to be destroyed in the process. What could have been deemed a ‘rational’ process of ‘developing’ the common law then proves in the end to be self-defeating.
The problem of our time is not that the laws of our country are inadequate to deal with its problems; it is that we are assailed by an indigestible surfeit of them.
[Courtesy Libertarian International http://www.libertarian.to ]
Further reading:
Bruno Leoni – Freedom and the Law, expanded third edition Liberty Press, Indianapolis 1991
Arthur R. Hogue – The Origins of the Common Law, Indiana University Press 1966
F.W. Maitland - The Forms of Action at Common Law, Cambridge University Press 1954
W.S. Holdsworth – Sources and Literature of English Law, Oxford University Press 1925
INDUSTRIALISTS' ESTATE
By Shahzada Irfan Ahmed
In a rare initiative, industrialists from Punjab set up an estate for planned and rapid industrialization of the province.
The establishment of industrial estates to help boost economic growth and increase employment opportunities in the country is not a totally new concept in Pakistan. In the past, several industrial estates including the SITE industrial estate Karachi, Multan industrial estate, Quaid-e-Azam industrial estate (Kot Lakhpat, Lahore), Hattar industrial estate and Gadoon Amazai industrial estate were established by the government but all of them faced a similar fate. Within years of their establishment, almost all of them became victims of sheer neglect and there was hardly any will at the end of the government to fulfill its promises or unity among private owners of the industrial units within these states to look after their interests. Besides, the overall growth of the industrial sector in the country had remained stalled for decades – mostly due to the unnecessary intervention or red tape by the government agencies.
Keeping these impediments to industrial growth in view, industrialists from the private sector in Punjab, the major stakeholders in this context, got together and came out with certain suggestions. They were of the view that the only survival of the ailing industrial sector lay in according to these suggestions, something that was not possible without government help.
What followed was few meetings between the members of the industrial sector and the government of Punjab, need assessment exercises, critical analysis of the problems faced by the private sector at the hand of government agencies, high costs of industrial inputs especially the utilities and so on. And finally the government seemed convinced and in an unexpected move came out with a detailed plan to achieve "orderly, planned and rapid industrialization of the province."
Luckily for the industrial sector, the government was kind enough to not to take control of the whole thing in its very hand. This time there was something different. To the utter disappointment of the bureaucratic mafia, the administrative control of the whole plan was given to a company formed under the name Punjab Industrial Estates Development and Management Company (PIEDMC). The company is run by a 24-member board and out of these 24 members, 19 are from the private sector and the rest from the government. Among the different tasks it has to achieve, the most challenging are the development of the existing industrial estates and establishment of a 1500 acre industrial state at Sundar, Raiwind Road, Lahore at a cost of almost Rs.3 billion.
To discuss the viability and urgency of the move, The News on Sunday contacted Mohsin Syed who is the chairman of PIEDMC and the industrial estate being established at Sundar. An M.S. in Electronics Engineering from US, Mohsin is an established industrialist having sufficient experience of managing industrial estates in foreign countries to his credit.
Talking to TNS, Mohsin says that there was an urgent need to establish a state-of-the-art industrial estate that could save industries from the onslaught of more than 30 government agencies, make them compliant to the environmental and social compulsions suggested under the WTO regime and provide them power at about half the rate as given by WAPDA. Without WTO compliance, it would be impossible for Pakistani industrialists to enter world exports market.
Explaining the details, Mohsin says that the management of industrial estate has been given a loan worth Rs.1 billion by the Punjab government. Rs.20 crore were utilized in developing Multan industrial estate and Rs.10 crore in Quaid-e-Azam (Kot Lakphat) industrial estate whereas the remaining were earmarked for acquisition of Rs.1500 acres of barren land to establish Sundar industrial estate. And in all these endeavours, the efforts made by the company have reaped fruits.
"Unlike in the past, there are no false claims but facts. We are pleased to announce that after the provision of long-missing amenities, plots in Multan industrial estate were sold at premium rates. Similarly, we have succeeded in acquiring 1500 acres land at Raiwind Road and already received 161 applications for those willing to buy industrial plots. Most of these applicants are those industrialists who want to expand their existing production facilities. There are still those who are so impressed by what we have to offer, that they want to move their whole industrial plants to Sundar estate," he informs.
On the most attractive incentives under the package, he tells TNS that it has been decided in principle that no representative of any government department will be allowed to enter an industrial unit and harass the owners: "They will come to the estate's management office where their meetings will be arranged with the owners of the industrial plants they want to visit. This step was taken to discourage the practice of harassing industrialists and extorting money on different pretexts by government employees."
Secondly, he says, it was a unanimous demand of all the industrialists consulted in the pre-feasibility mode that they be saved from the wrath of WAPDA and the non-viable power rates it offers to the industrialists. To fulfil this demand, PIEDMC has invited applications from several power producers who are ready to sell power at a lucrative rate of Rs.2.50 to the company that intends to sell it to industrial units established in Sundar estate at a rate of Rs.3 per unit. "This very offer has amazed and attracted many as they have never dreamt of getting such a drastic cut in power tariff – a major industrial input nowadays," he adds.
The company intends to sell plots at the rate of Rs.3.5 million per acre and return the loan obtained from Punjab government. "Considering the rates of the adjacent land that stand at Rs.2.2 million per acre, the rate we are offering after all this development process is highly competitive," he says.
On the government's assistance in the whole affair, Mohsin clarifies that everything is done on a commercial basis except the establishment of a water treatment plant that costs Rs.500 million. "Our members are stressing that the government should fund this project as it is too big an investment for the industry to make. The proposed plant will have the ability to convert industrial effluents into irrigation-quality water that will return to the ground and save the water level from falling. Besides, this treatment plant will be a permanent source of income for the estate's management as it would charge industries for processing the effluents according to the level of pollution they create. Many industrialists have shown interest in buying our plots once we open sales in August for the reason that they would be able to comply with environmental requirements under International Standards Organization (ISO). Otherwise, they won't qualify as exporters however high-quality and low-cost their products are," he adds.
Going by the basic facts and taking the claims of private industrialists at face value, one can expect a highly positive outcome of this whole exercise and see the private sector deliver. However, if the private sector fails to achieve the desired targets despite all the administrative and operational controls given to it by the government, there will be hardly any hope left to save our ailing industry from a total doom.
[Courtesy The News]
Letters from the Press
FINANCE MINISTER'S CLAIM
Nasrullah Khan Shinwari, Peshawar
Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz has proudly claimed collection of Rs510.6 billion in taxes during the year ending June 30, 2004, and hopes to collect Rs580 billion during the current fiscal year. But he has not mentioned the unprecedented increase in the cost of living after October 1999.
The designated prime minister, basically a banker, is trained in money collection. He should now learn that success of the government is judged by improvement in the quality of life of the people and not by the amount of money squeezed out of them. He should also be conscious of the fact that the French prime minister's reckless and merciless taxing of the common people to meet the requirements of foreign debt-servicing and luxuries of the king and nobles triggered the French Revolution in 1789. [Dawn]
ASIAN TIGER — OR CAT!
[Mrs Fowzia Khan, Islamabad]
The World Human Development Index released by UNDP has placed 177 nations, according to their rankings, based on life expectancy, per capita income, literacy/education and heathcare. Pakistan is at 142 position, lower than even Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives (84), SriLanka (96), India is 127. I want to ask the finance minister (the future prime minister): Sir, what would be your comment on this position of Pakistan, and would you still stick to your statement of making Pakistan the Asian Tiger. Right now, we appear to be not even an Asian cat, I think. [The News]
STILL BETTER
[Adil Yar Khan, Nowshera]
According to the ranking of the 177 nations, in the 2004 Human Development Index released by United Nations Development Programme, Pakistan ranks 142nd position.
No worries! The quality of life in Pakistan is still better than the countries like: Congo, Eritrea, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone etc. [The News]
POVERTY LORDS
[Javed Iqbal, Peshawar]
Where development economists in the country are engaged in unfolding strategies aiming at poverty reduction, poverty lords have started eating out all their goodies in a very candid and professional way. Though poverty is a state of helplessness but poverty lord is a state within the state of poverty. He is a person who poses himself to be a champion for the cause of poor, teaches and preaches austerity, exhibits a very lavish life style and dines and resides in five star hotels while thriving all on the expense of poor. The development gurus must learn how to fold poverty lords, if they have some serious business to do.
[The News]
POVERTY LINE
[Mir Tabassum Mairaj, Islamabad]
There are three different percentages ranging from 30 plus to 40 plus to show people below the poverty line in Pakistan. All the three are from authentic and reliable sources.
I discussed the matter with a friend and we came to the conclusion that all the three percentages are correct. The Theory is based on our first-hand personal experience and we want to share it with the readers of your newspaper.
Both of us are salaried persons. During the first week of the month when our purses are full of currency notes, we are above the ‘poverty line’. Then in the middle of the month we are just touching the imaginary poverty line.
Then comes the last week when we get utility bills from the big corporations run by real ‘big guns’. After paying these bills we are below the poverty line. So all the three percentages are correct. [The News]
SUBSIDIZING THE INEFFICIENT
[S. H. Tehsin, Karachi]
It has been reported that the Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation will earn Rs 3 million every month for collecting licence fees for PTV. Both measures - the imposition of a licence fee and its collection through electricity bills - show the government's callousness and disregard of public interest.
PTV and KESC are both thoroughly inefficient institutions. Whereas PTV bores the public by its perpetually falling standards and mediocre programmes, KESC bleeds it to death by its inflated bills and unending load- shedding and breakdowns. Both are able to continue in business because of the vested interests of their managements and political supporters who patronize and benefit from them.
However secure the managements of the KESC and PTV may feel, they are doomed to be thrown into the dustbin of history sooner or later because the two have outlived their utility. [Dawn]
NO BENEFIT TO PUBLIC
[Usman Ghani, Peshawar]
The PTCL package of reducing tariff, this time too, is eyewash. The common users of phone will in no way benefit from this so-called package. Who will be awake from 12 midnight to 6 am early in the morning to utilise free local call facility? None. The present package will be benefiting only the business and the privileged classes, utilising the reduction in the tariff of national and international calls. Once again the common domestic phone users have been sidelined. No surprise, it is a country for the haves and not for the have-nots. [The News]
JOKE OF THE YEAR!
[Afzal Rahim, Islamabad]
Yet another joke with common man "No local call charges from 12 - 6 am" Minister for Information Technology. [The News]
FREE LOCAL CALLS
[Arshad Karim, Karachi]
I congratulate Mr. Awais Leghari, the federal minister of Information technology for his bold decision to make local telephone calls absolutely free between midnight and 6 in the morning.
Since none of my acquaintances is ever awake at these hours yet I sincerely want to make full use of this grandest of all opportunities. I would highly appreciate if the honourable minister cares to let me have his private telephone number to enable me to talk to him freely at these ‘comfortable’ hours. I am sure Mr. Leghari is awake between midnight and 6 a.m., because a decision like this one could be expected only from a person having sleepless nights. [The News]
RELIEF NOT THERE
[Ibn-e-Mihr, Lahore]
Minister for IT and telecommunication announced graciously the relief for telephone users. It could not be understood that most awful slabs of sales tax and with holding tax is still present in the PTCL bill. When the poor retired customers will blessed with the real relief of abolishing with this "punch"? [The News]
PTCL RELIEF PACKAGE
[N. A. Khan, Rawalpindi]
Recently, PTCL has announced reduction in tariffs on NWD international calls. Charges on new telephone connections have also been reduced. These are appreciable customer friendly measures. Side by side, free local calls package from zero hour to 0600 hour has also been announced.
This, however, seems to be a senseless package, for, generally there is no business activity during the side hours; offices remain closed and people are in deep slumber.
For this reason, the package has attracted much criticism. Instead, PTCL may have reduced local call rates that are considered to be high; or half rate charges for local calls may be fixed from 0930 hours to 0600 hours.
It may also be mentioned that excessive billing of local calls has been a source of great anxiety for the PTCL customers. Ostensibly, it is for the reason that no’ code barring facility’ has been provided for local calls whereas code barring facility for other types of calls is available. PTCL customers, though persons of integrity, are unable to satisfy the PTCL authorities on the issue of excessive billing of local calls, for no record of local calls is available. Provision of ‘code barring facility’ for the local calls would be a great relief for the PTCL customers.
PTCL PLANS
[Nasim Ansar, Islamabad]
At a time when the government is thinking of breaking up Pakistan Telecom into smaller entities in its bid to sell this utility, the Pakistan Telecom Authority is helping PTCL become a bigger elephant. The recent delay in the auction for WLL licences is a case in point.
The whole auction process seems faulted as it lacks transparency and is leaning too much in favour of PTCL. With two important members of PTA's management still coming from PTCL, this does not come as a surprise.
It is ironical that after the good work done by the chairman of the PTA in the auction of cellular licences in April, such a stance has been adopted for the WLL auction.
This gives very bad signals to private investors. It is rumoured that the WLL licence was delayed from July to August 2004 so that PTCL could have its system in place by then. [Dawn]
WHO IS FOOTING THE BILLS?
[F. Ali, Karachi]
Can somebody tell me that when a president, prime minister, governor, chief minister and ministers both provincial and federal go on a private visit including haj and umrah, who pays their expenses for air tickets, boarding and lodging, car hire etc.? Is it borne by them from their pockets or we the poor tax payers are made the suckers? Not only this but no account is made public of the official entourage which should be in the best interest of the country. Can some God-fearing, honest person tell the people of Pakistan the true facts? [The News]
UMRAH-TUL-BADAL!
[M S Hasan, Lahore]
Every President and Prime Minister of Pakistan, depending upon his or her length of tenure, performs several Umrahs at the expense of the taxpayers’ money. As a taxpayer, I draw immense pleasure and satisfaction that the Presidents and the Prime Ministers are performing Umrah-tul-badal on my behalf. My sincere thanks to them for earning and sharing the "sawab" with me. [The News]
COSTLY PARLIAMENT’S UTILITY?
[Raja M Afzal Khan, Rawalpindi]
Earlier, the National Assembly (NA) debated poor taxpayers money spent, rather embezzled, on princely lifestyle and financial benefits of the President Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited Istaqbal Mehdi, a tip of the iceberg, and the NA failed to take any action. On July 20, 2004, the Finance Minister provided openly illegal facts to the Senate in a manner as if to ridicule helplessness of the Senate, like the NA (The News, July 21, 2004)
So, what is the utility of the Parliament costing billions of rupees to the poor taxpayers, except or a sham democracy to pacify public in the West? [The News]
IMPORT DUTY ON CARS
[Aziz Suharwardy, Karachi]
The recent announcement of extremely unrealistic import duties for cars is a typical example of how the bureaucracy subverts and sabotages any benefit from reaching the citizens of Pakistan.
While Prime Minister Shujaat Hussain and Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz are both busy in the bye-election campaign, the bureaucracy has once again struck by announcing extremely high fixed duties for import of cars announced in the latest budget by the finance minister.
On behalf of a large number of associations and citizens we would like to lodge our protest against this collusion between automobile manufacturers and the officials who have announced the high import duties for various categories of cars in US dollars. Attempts to deny citizens benefits arising out of the new auto import policy are deplorable.
The duties announced start from $4,000 for cars up to 800CC and are a non-starter because the price differential becomes excessive. While we as citizens realize that government servants especially in customs, taxation and the police need to have higher salaries commensurate with the times and their status, they (the government servants) should also understand that such citizen unfriendly actions only serve to increase resentment and bitterness towards the bureaucracy.
We would like to appeal to the prime minister that the positive steps taken in this year's budget should not be allowed to go waste. The facility of importing cars extended in the 2004 budget should be taken to its logical end by announcing a reasonable import duty which should facilitate import of cars, providing a reasonable alternative for citizens.
This will not only result in creation of more jobs but will also show that the prime minister is a alive to the needs of ordinary citizens. [Dawn]
DEVOLUTION REVIEW
[Rafi Nasim, Lahore]
Having failed to come up to the aspirations of the people, the local government system enforced under the devolution plan is showing signs of cracking. The success of any system of governance is determined by the benefits it gives to citizens.
If the system was successful, various segments of our society would not have asked for its improvement or even closure. Members of the Pakistan Bar Council feel that the system is standing on very fragile ground and is likely to crumble soon.
The provinces are inching forward to plead for certain changes in the local government laws. Having lost important positions like that of deputy commissioner and others, the DMG group is also seeking to restore its lost position in the civil bureaucracy.
The government is now said to be thinking of making amendments to the system before the next local elections. The proposed revival of defunct municipal committees with a new nomenclature of 'city councils' indicates that the government is fully aware of the deficiencies of the system.
The municipal committees looked after the administration of cities and were abolished in August 2001 to facilitate the formation of district governments under the devolution plan.
If the government made a mistake in introducing the worthless devolution plan, there should be no harm in abolishing it and reverting to the old system. [Dawn]
ADDING FINESSE TO THANAS (POLICE STATAIONS)
[Tasleem Shahid, Islamabad]
I hired a house in F/11, later we had some disputes with the owner, it developed into enmity and both parties tried to harm each other. Subsequently, the case was registered by the owner against us to vacate the house, although he signed a contract for two years. I was frightened to enter "Golra Thana" but was astonished to see a very literate smiling lady sitting in "Reconciliatory Committee" on Wednesday. The office in the Thana looked liked as if some lady principal of the college is sitting to solve the disputes, and our ‘good luck’ was that the matter was solved by the lady very peacefully and both the parties were convinced by the arguments and effectiveness of her speech, which was so convincing that both parties realised the precious time we wasted for nothing. This was a very good experience; otherwise we never thought to enter a thana. This is a very good practice; a very qualified lady is solving the disputes in a very graceful manner. I request the police authorities to establish such offices in every thana to improve the thana culture. It is a very good practice we appreciate it. [The News]
PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP PHILOSOPHY
[Prof. S. Haroon Ahmed, Karachi]
This refers to a letter on public-private partnership in healthcare projects by Prof. Hasan Aziz (June 26). There are many modules of healthcare in public service projects. A majority of services are in the curative field. Yet there are others which also address the issue of training, research and public awareness.
One model is where philanthropists belonging to a certain community decide to set up a medical facility. A budget is provided and a plan within the allocated funding is drawn up (hospital, dispensary, laboratory etc.). They take all decisions, from concept and funding to policy decisions.
In Karachi there are many such good institutions, funded by various community groups. Then there are religious or regional organizations which fund such institutions. Both models provide services to people from outside their own community as well.
Then there are the foreign donors who provide funds but have their own agenda. Funding has to be applied for by submitting a proposal (a very technical job) and on approval a sizable amount is released. The donors keep a close check on the progress of the work and in the manner in which the funds are utilized.
Such NGOs tend to attract intelligent but disgruntled politically-minded activists and such work eventually ends up isolating them from the mainstream health-related needs of the community.
Then there is a model where a group of experts or specialists meet and begin a project purely through their own, though limited, resources. Philanthropists can also contribute to such a project and those with professional or technical knowledge volunteer their time and energy. The success of a project such as this depends to a great extent on the goodwill generated from civil society.
More recently it has been experienced that donors who donate a sizable amount begin to impose their opinion on the policy perception of those who run the project and attempt to gain control of the administration. This destroys the project.
A mechanism should be devised where donors are provided relevant information with transparency but not allowed to interfere with the administration of the project or with its policies. However, the philanthropist members of any institution's governing body should participate fully and take collective decisions.
Not included here are those which are purely business ventures but claim to provide a public service - like many medical colleges in the private sector and the so-called public-private partnership enterprises.
The public-private partnership slogan has been raised without outlining its philosophy. It is generally believed that wherever the government is a partner, bureaucratic control will automatically follow.
A protocol needs to be developed where the state should facilitate the establishment of such institutions and stand back and remain a watchdog. Under pressure from the market economy and globalization this aspect needs the immediate attention of our policymakers. [Dawn]
BEWARE DRINKING FROM A CAN
[Dr. Mansoor Hassan Shaikh, Chandka Medical College, Larkana]
A girl went on a picnic one Sunday, taking with her some cans of a soft drink which she put in the refrigerator of a boat. On Monday she was taken to an ICU and on Wednesday she died. The autopsy revealed that the can she had drunk from had been infected by rat urine, which contains highly toxic substances. Probably the top part of the can on the outside had become infected.
It is highly recommended that anyone who wishes to drink from a can first thoroughly wash and rinse its upper part. The reason for the caution is that they are often stocked in warehouses and transported straight to retail stores without being cleaned.
A study in Spain showed that the tops of cans are more contaminated than public toilets. Better still, try using a glass or a straw and pass this information this on to everyone you care about. [Dawn]
FreePakistan News-Briefs
USAID: MICRO-ECONOMIC SITUATION TOO BLEAK
USAID – an organization supported by the Government of United States – has confirmed that per capita income in Pakistan “is nearing $ 600.” Commenting on Pakistan’s human indicators, the USAID said: “The macro-economic conditions do not match with facts at micro-economic level where the situation is rather too bleak.”
PAKISTAN MAY ALLOW SCREENING OF INDIAN FILMS
The government for the first time has come out with a clear-cut policy statement in the National Assembly regarding showing of Indian movies in Pakistan and said screening of Indian films would help the government of Pakistan to collect millions of rupees as taxes.
INDIAN SONGS ALLOWED ON PRIVATE RADIO CHANNELS
Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has given permission to private radio channels to broadcast Indian movies songs.
OFFICIALS OPPOSE ONLINE SERVICE
The officials in most of the federal government departments, attached organizations and agencies are resisting creation of online service to people and the government despite a firm commitment to international donors to install the system shortly is in a fix.
INCREASE IN HOUSING, LANDING CHARGES BY CAA
The airlines operating in the country are upset over the massive increase in the housing and landing charges by the Civil Aviation Authority and have decided to approach the Ministry of Defense for appropriate action.
CAA AGREES TO DEFER HIKE IN CHARGES
Civil Aviation Authority has agreed to defer the implementation of the recent increase in the embarkation fee for passengers and raise in housing and landing charges for domestic flights for one month. Now the increase would come into effect from September 1, 2004, instead of August 1, 2004.
PRESIDENT, PM SECRETARIATS EMPLOYEES GET EXTRA BENEFITS
The Finance Minister has told the National Assembly that top officers and employees of President’s and Prime Minister’s secretariats were getting extra financial benefits for maintaining ‘confidentiality’ of official record. From Grade 1-9, the employees are getting 20 % of pay as an additional allowance, while Grade 17 and above are getting 10 % of pay.
SENATE SEEKS RECORD OF CORRUPT CUSTOMS OFFICIALS
The Senate of Pakistan has demanded a list from the government of customs officials who have received rewards through fraudulent methods. The authorities have been sitting over countless reports on this practice at the country’s ports and customs stations but the lawmakers have taken notice of it. Lists of officials who apply spurious methods to record performance for reward is now being prepared at the Central Board of Revenue for submission to the Senate in its next session.
AUDIT EXEMPTION FOR TAXPAYERS PAYING EXTRA TAX
The Central Board of Revenue has allowed non-corporate income taxpayers of the country to revise their income tax returns and another facility of getting rid of the requirement of audit of their income tax returns by paying 20 % “higher” (more) income tax “as compared to the tax payable on their original return provided there is no definite information against them (with regard to evasion of income tax).”
CAR DEALERS OBSERVE STRIKE
As predicted by even a layman on the day when Federal Budget 2004-05 was announced by Finance Minister, car dealers rejoicing then are out on the roads after the Central Board of Revenue has withdrawn incentives on import of reconditioned cars. Car dealers throughout the country thus observed a complete shutter-down on July 27, 2004, as a token of protest against the CBR move dubbing it a move aimed at pleasing the cartel of large car assemblers in the country.
CBR TO REVISE CASES FILED AGAINST FTO
The Central Board of Revenue will revise all the cases filed in the higher courts against the decisions of the Federal Tax Ombudsman.
INCOME TAX OFFICIALS BARRED FROM VISITING PEOPLE
More than 1000 income tax officials have been barred from visiting or calling people to their offices to explain underpayment of tax or concealing tax. This step has been taken with a view to reduce income tax department circles in the country from 734 to 15 regional and large taxpayers units.
1, 900 DISMISSED FOR CORRUPTION
A report sent to the Senate by Establishment Division revealed that as many as 1,900 employees have been dismissed/debarred from services on charges of corruption, theft and misconduct.
RS.0.5 BILLION SPENT ON REFERENDUM
The Chairman Senate on July 23, 2004, disallowed supplementary questions about an expenditure of Rs.0.5 billion on holding of presidential referendum in April 2002, triggering protest and boycott by senators.
RS.50 MILLION SPENT ON TWO NRB CONVENTIONS
The National Re-construction Bureau spent Rs.50 million on tow recent one-day conventions of bar associations and press clubs of Pakistan.
TRADE POLICY TO COST RS.2 BILLION
According to the Federal Minister for Commerce, the initiatives and schemes announced in the new trade policy for the current fiscal year would cost Rs.2 billion. While addressing a post trade policy briefing, he said, “Rs.2 billion will be available from the Export Development Fund to facilitate the exporters to achieve the export target of $ 13.7 billion.”
TELEMETRY SYSTEM TO GO TO A PRIVATE COMPANY
The Indus River System Authority (IRSA) will award the telemetry system’s contract to a private company for taking it over this electronic gauging network of water distribution among the four provinces by August 1, 2004.
GOVERNOR ASKS PRIVATE SECTOR TO PLAY ITS ROLE
The governor of Baluchistan province has said that vast potential of developing small and medium business exist in the province and urged the private sector to come forward and play its due role in the development of this sector side by side the government.
PUNJAB SEES 13 % RISE IN CRIMES
Punjab province saw 13 % rise in crime in the first four months of the present year. The crime against property surged to 41 % whereas the crime against person rose to 22 %.
POOR MANAGERIAL SYSTEM CAUSING RS.450 BILLION LOSS ANNUALLY
Every year Rs.450 billion are being lost in Pakistan in industrial and services sectors due to poor quality management of services and wastage of time. These revealing figures were indicated in an official report cited by key speakers of a Seminar titled “Understanding Multidimensional Nature of Quality” arranged by Human Resourced Development Network in Islamabad. Hussain Haider of National Productivity Organization, Ministry of Industries and Production, said that one of the major reasons of the wastage of potential was lack of time management, absence of accountability sense, putting responsibility on others’ shoulders and missing of skill training and management.
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Edited and prepared by
Khalil Ahmad
[No opinion expressed here should necessarily be taken as reflecting the view of FreePakistan Newsletter.]
