The Road Pakistanis never want to Make even after a decade and After 237 Pashtuns Killed

JUN

11

MORE THAN 200 PEOPLE DEAD DUE TO ROAD CONSTRUCTION DELAYS – PAKISTAN

By Malik Achakzai

QUETTA, Pakistan (Inzuna) – A big cloud of dust swirls above our Corolla as it gets onto the road. Black shade surrounds the car. Nobody can see the traffic coming towards us, and we are not sure the cars coming at us can see us.

This scary scenario is a daily occurrence for those who drive on the Kalat-Quetta-Chaman section of Pakistan’s National Highway, N-25. The road has been under construction since 2004 and delays in its completion have caused hundreds of deaths.

The highway is considered to be one of the most important trade routes between Pakistan and Afghanistan. N-25 stretches from Karachi, Sindh to Quetta, Balochistan and then on to Afghanistan where it turns into N-40 connecting it to Iran, Turkey, and then Europe. The road is also linked to a highway that is used to transport goods in and out of the important port city of Gwadar in Balochistan.

“Many construction companies are changed and billions of rupees are wasted in the tenure of each company,” said Noor Ahmed Kakar, president of All Balochistan Goods Truck Transport Companies Association, while speaking with Inzuna.

According to the association’s records, more than 237 drivers, conductors and passengers have been killed in road accidents on the N-25 due to delays in construction and diversions on the road. “And some of the sections which are built are never of the quality mentioned by [the] National Highway Authority,” Kakar said.

As of January of 2014, 759 kilometers of road have been finished on the N-25, a Pakistan-based USAID spokesperson, who requested anonymity, told Inzuna.

Malik Achakzai interviewing people on Pakistan's National Higway, N-25.

USAID has committed $90 million for the highway’s construction and is planning for its completion in 30 months’ time. The money will be disbursed to the government of Pakistan and the National Highway Authority of Pakistan (NHA), which in turn hired Frontier Works Organization (FWO), a civil engineering firm based in Rawalpindi, to finish construction of the N-25.

But in the meantime, misfortunes continues to persist.

“These [roads] will be washed away by rain water and heavy load carriers in months. The asphalt will be pressed down into holes because of poor quality construction products… I don't think this road will remain very long under heavy NATO and civilian truck transportation,” Kakar told Inzuna.

He said that the National Highway Authority (NHA), the governmental department in charge of Pakistan’s roadways, is giving “false promises” to finish the road.

He also explained that “the dust has proven to be unhealthy both to those living beside the road and drivers and passengers.”

Haji Nasir Ahmed Bacha, an ex-provincial minister and tribal elder of Balochistan, told Inzuna that a private road construction company started work on the N-25 before 2004 but did not have any government security. Consequently, “influential groups and individuals pushed the company not to work and always demanded heavy bribes", he said.

Noor ul Hassan Mandokhail, general manager of the NHA, corroborated Bacha’s assessment while speaking with Inzuna and said that “money seizures and a lack of proper funding caused road building delays.”

Malik Achakzai interviewing people on Pakistan's National Higway, N-25.

After the US invaded Afghanistan, Bacha said, “Pakistan wanted to slow down NATO supply carriers. Pakistan felt some sort of fear due to NATO forces presence in Afghanistan.”

However, now that the war effort is winding down and NATO forces are returning to their respective countries he said that he believes delays to road building will stop.

Bacha is confident that the FWO will deliver the necessary fixes to the highway securely as the company has much needed militaristic capabilities.

“No ‘mafia’ can stand in the way of semi-military companies. They [the FWO staff] cannot be pressured by groups and individuals demanding heavy bribes,” Bacha stated.

Follow Malik Achakzai on Twitter at @AfghanJourno

Follow Inzuna on Twitter at @inzuna

SC asks Punjab to end ‘unlawful’ Shameful wheat curbs on Pakhtunkhwa by Nawaz Sharif Government

ISLAMABAD: Admitting a complaint against the blockade of wheat transport into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa filed by the PTI government, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the PML-N government in Punjab to refrain from taking unlawful measures.


Additional Advocate General Mustafa Ramday, who was representing the Punjab government, was also ordered by a three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja to tell the court on May 28 why the wheat procured in Punjab by the KP government was not being allowed to be transported out of the province.


The bench was hearing an application filed by Jamaat-i-Islami’s secretary general Liaquat Baloch on the plight of hapless citizens who are being forced to buy flour at exorbitant prices despite the fact that Pakistan is proclaimed to be “an agricultural country”.


The petitioner argued that a steep rise in the cost of living was taxing the meagre resources of the people, making it hard for them to make ends meet and put food on the table for their families.


At the last hearing on May 13, the court had asked law officers of the federal and provincial governments to help determine the constitutional consequences in case provinces failed to provide essential food items to the most vulnerable segments of society, in violation of citizens’ fundamental rights.


In its order on Tuesday, the court repeated the same directions. In an application moved by KP Advocate General Abdul Latif Yousufzai, the province deplored that the Punjab government had imposed an unannounced restriction on the movement of wheat from its territory into KP. He said for the past 20 days, trucks loaded with wheat and bound for KP were being off-loaded at checkposts.


Court refuses to issue direction to National Assembly on wheat pricing Not only is the restriction taking a toll on the transport system, the application stated, but this action was creating a shortage of wheat in the market, driving up the price of flour.


The free flow of edible commodities throughout Pakistan is ensured under Article 151 of the Constitution, the application stated, adding that the federal government had fixed the procurement target of wheat to 0.450 million tons for KP for the year 2013-2014. This target has to be achieved during the current season ending June 30, 2014, the application said, adding that millers in KP were having a hard time getting the wheat they had purchased in Punjab, back to their mills for grinding.


During the proceedings, Advocate General of Balochistan Nazimud Din floated a proposal to bring down the price of wheat. The Balochistan government, he explained, had borrowed Rs5 billion from banks to buy wheat from growers each year and had to pay Rs680 million in interest on the loan. If the federal government paid the interest instead of the province, the saving would bring down the price of wheat by at least Rs3 per bag.

When Advocate Tauseef Asif, representing the petitioner, asked the court to pass an order requiring the government to consider reducing wheat prices in the budget, the court made it clear that it would not give any directions to the National Assembly. “You are representing the secretary general of a political party which is also being represented in the parliament,” Justice Khawaja observed, asking the counsel to ask his client to raise the matter in the assembly.


The court also ordered Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt to arrange a meeting of law officers of all the four provinces as well as the respective food secretaries with the assistance of Secretary of Ministry of National Food Security and Research Seerat Asghar on priority basis and submit a detail report on the next date of hearing.


The court also said that if the government could not ensure the fundamental rights of citizens by guaranteeing food security for the masses, it should amend the Constitution and delete the provisions that require it to do so. The court, the judges said, would interfere whenever the government failed to ensure the fundamental rights as guaranteed in the Constitution.


Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2014


source: http://www.dawn.com/news/1107661/sc-asks-punjab-to-end-unlawful-wheat-curbs

Afghanistan Elections and Pakistan`s Anxiety

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Written by N Yousufzai- Mona Naseer

Afghanistan is holding its presidential elections coming month of April 2014- which could be the first peaceful transfer of power in the history of the country. Elections in Afghanistan not only   safeguards the political stability and democratic values in Afghanistan- but also heralds another phase of Afghans history

The countdown to the American withdrawal and Afghan election   2014 is perhaps the most talked about phase of the Afghanistan from its political stability to economic viability point of view.  Americans success and its goal achievements in the country along with what are they leaving behind in their post withdrawal policy are some of the questions on its neighbours and stakeholders mind. Neighbouring countries are flexing their muscles on how to exploit the situation of a nascent nation by increasing their sphere of influence in Afghanistan if the NATO withdrawal leaves any vacuum.

The three candidates leading in the election campaign are Abdullah Abdullah a prominent member of the former anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, Ashraf Ghani former finance minister and a popular candidate among Pashtun middle class and urban Afghans.

Another prominent candidate is Mr Rassoul, who has served as President Karzai's foreign minister. Karzai`s family support has brought him into the spotlight and on equal footings in the campaign with the rest of the two candidates.

The neighbouring countries especially Pakistan is closely watching the latest developments in Kabul- where it seems that it can no longer influence the process by playing the old cards of dividing Afghans on the basis of ethnicities. Afghans apparently seem to have learned a lesson from its ethnic and tribal infighting which lead to the destructive 1992 civil war. Younger generation Afghans has shown faith in national unity and has expressed their frustration in the past politics which caused enormous destruction and brought miseries upon them. In a recent story on the Afghan elections, Washington post wrote a "disputed election could lead to ethnic and tribal fighting a corrupt election would be a death knell for U.S. and foreign support for Afghanistan". Afghanistan president Karzai understands the significance of ethnic unification. Al-Jazeera reported that whether these ethnically mix teams were designed by President Karzai or by calculations on the part of the candidates themselves, the result is that no presidential team can be claimed by any one ethnic group.

Meanwhile, Pakistanis policy makers are discussing what would any of the three leading candidates, if elected, mean to the interest of the country in Afghanistan and in the region.

Given the tenuous Pak-Afghan relations and the Pakistani interference in Afghanistan, no presidential candidates gauging the mood of Afghans risk voter’s support by showing a soft corner towards Pakistan in their campaign, regardless of how they would deal with Pakistan after elected as president.

The candidates tough talks against Pakistan, makes it harder for Pakistani establishment too to endorse the suitable candidate in the election. The disputed Durand Line border between the two countries remains top of the Pakistani agenda when devising any sort of bilateral relations. Florida based Political analyst of Pakistani origin, Dr Mohammad Taqi feels the difficulty of choice for Pakistanis. He believes Pakistan best bet to influence the elections would be its manipulation of the North/South ethnic divide. “I don't think Pakistan has any favourite’s much they despise Dr. Abdullah Abdullah his ascent might suit them to play on the Pashtun/North divide”.

Afghan political experts and officials are of the view that Pakistan’s attempts to make a peace deal with the Pakistani Taliban so TTP or Afghanistan Taliban can channelize its energy towards the disruption of polls in Afghanistan. Taliban have vowed that they will disrupt the election. The recent attack on Serena hotel, and series of bombing near election offices just weeks before the election, which killed nine local and foreign guests has sent shock waves throughout the country. Afghan intelligence is indicating the attack was planned by the intelligence of a ‘neighbouring’ country- a common reference to Pakistan in the official statements of the agency.

The lack of ‘favourite’ among the candidates leaves Pakistan with the option of increasing its political influence through its Afghan proxies – the Taliban. The addition of Pakistani Taliban to the political and war turf might make it difficult for Afghan security forces to provide a safe and secure environment to voters on April 5 – adversely impacting the convention of free and fair elections.

The long term benefits of this strategy are questioned by many Pakistani analysts for the future of the country itself. Pakistani esblaihsment believe in sustaining war intensity in FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and by trying to achieve its objective of friendly and issueless Afghanistan (strategic depth and Durand line) has serious questions over it.

With more than 60000 thousand people hanged on the altar of strategic depth policy in KP and FATA, with its   economic fallout, IDPS and, along with loss of human lives have not changed much the hawkish policies we are pursuing as a paranoid security state.

The past policy of Afghanistan regarding Durand line and pukhtunistan are still haunting our policy makers. But the question arises” Can Afghanistan as a landlocked war ravaged  state afford to create trouble for its neighbour, and  are the dynamic of pukhtunistan or pukhtun nationalism still strong enough to fan the fire of separatism in Pakistan,  or  our  fears not  tangible  anymore but  rather  is   Pakistan military establishment  obsession with its   eastern borders and the weight of our policy towards India . How we see the world from the prism of India fixation.

 Our policy makers predominately from Punjab forgo the interest of smaller provinces, particularly KP and FATA which still continues to suffer with this myopic policy of Pakistan establishment safeguarding eastern border at the expensive of Pukhtun in Pakistan.

 Pakistan should realise that its policy of dividing or playing up the ethnicity card in Afghanistan will have serious repercussion if Afghanistan fell into the chaos as predicated with the possible compromised elections, resulting not only in influx of refugees from Afghanistan which with our own internally displaced will create a situation beyond the state capacity, and the possible merger of TTP and Afghan Taliban  challenging the sovereignty of not only our western borders but even further creating the chaos beyond the peripheral areas.

By having a weak chaotic neighbour in Afghanistan and its continuous fall out in Fata and KP, it won’t be long that we might set out to redraw our borders once again after the 1971 adventure.

Source: http://www.pashtunwomenvp.com/index.php/2013-01-28-03-21-27/current-issue/435-pakistan-s-anxiety-and-afghanistan-elections

Does Pakistan Need Presidential System Like Afghanistan?

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Written by Zulfiqar Gul

With recent massive success of Afghanistan Presidential elections, in which voters were allowed to directly elect the President, in Pakistan, it can also be adopted to help establish a strong civilian government without any political blackmailing coming from MPAs. In Pakistan, it is obvious that the parliamentary system, modeled after the British system of representative government, has failed to perform as desired due to mixing up of Legislative and Executive entities. As to complicate matters further, the voters tends to fall for a particular consistency candidate rather than giving consideration to a certain party’s ideology or manifesto, which results in hung parliament  and honest political parties securing fewer seats.

If the current system fails to reflect popular trends, can it legitimately be called a Democracy? For example, a certain political party’s leader maybe popular among the masses , yet due to the indirect nature of our political system, he/she may not be able to win more than forty seats. Even, should he/she finish first with ninety or so seats, they would still need to gather small parties to meet the simple majority of 137 of total 273 general seats to form a coalition government at the federal level. Afterward, a jumbo size cabinet would come into being to keep every coalition partner happy. Platoons of ministers would be a consistent burden on our economy with zero output being seen. Thus it might pay the way for undemocratic forces to eventually grind hopes for democracy in Pakistan to a halt only to see our problems being tripled.

With respect to the endemic confusion representative in democracy seen in a country like Pakistan, we should consider a modified version of the Presidential system practiced in the United States. This more direct democracy allows the Executive, “President”, to choose his/her cabinet team with each member having the required technical skills to head various government departments efficiently and at less cost to the governed, while the Legislative Body “The Senate” is left to focus on lawmaking without the burden of administrative duties. In this regard, I have outlined the proposed Three Tier Presidential System for Pakistan 

The Federal Government

*The Center shall hold  five subjects, namely Defense, Foreign Affairs, Currency,  Communication and Interior Security whereas the rest shall be transferred to the provinces.

*The President shall be the head of the government and State.

*The size of the Federal Cabinet shall not exceed seventeen members made up of, but not limited to retired civil servants, economists, foreign policy experts, educators, scientists, legal experts, sports administrators, etc. As the President deems best able to carry out their advisory and administrative duties, said officials are not required to be members of the legislative body.

*Elections to the office of President: All political parties, having been registered with the Elections Commission for the last seven years, may nominate a candidate for election. Any candidate securing 51% of total votes cast shall be declared President for a fixed term of four years. In the case that no candidate obtains the minimum 51% of total votes, those two with the highest percentage of votes will proceed to Run off Elections to be held within next twenty days. The winner of the Runoff Election will then be declared President of Pakistan for the stated four-year term. Presidential term limit will be held to three elected terms.

*Elections to the Senate: Senate elections shall be held once every four years. Each province shall have forty seats along with one from Islamabad, ten from tribal areas, fifteen for minorities, and twelve for women. A member of the Senate cannot be re-elected more than once 

*The minimum age for voting shall be reduced from eighteen to sixteen years.

*Procedure for amendment in the Constitution: A bill shall be initiated in the Senate and shall be approved by two-third majority. In the final phase, it shall be presented before the people of Pakistan for their endorsement through referendum and then has to receive the assent of the President to become a la

The Provincial Government

*Governor shall be the Chief Executive of the Province. The same procedure outlined above for the office of Federation President shall be utilized in the election of Provincial Governors. He/she shall be eligible to hold no more than three elected terms of four years each.

*Provincial cabinets will be eight in number.

*Provincial Senate Elections: Provincial Senate election shall be held once every four years with each district represented by one member each. A member of the Senate cannot be re-elected than once for a term of fours years.

The District Government

*The Mayor shall be entrusted with the responsibility of heading the District Government. He/she shall be elected to no more than three three-year terms.

*District Council Elections: District councils shall be elected in like manner to that used for the Senate at Federal and Provincial levels. Within the council every Tehsil shall have one member each. The duration of District Council shall not exceed three years. No member of a District Council can be elected more than once.

Understandably Pakistanis have some reservations about Presidential systems based on both the term and office having been abused by military dictators of the past. For that fear to be overcome it must be understood that those self-promoted individuals were not acting in a true Presidential capacity based on that inherent in the intra-regulating checks and balances built into the U.S. Governmental system. Dictators, not Presidents, force their way to power through military strength, uncontested referendum, or controllable so-called basic democratics. In a system modeled after the U.S, even a one vote can change the destiny of the nation. Every political party’s candidate has the opportunity to express himself/herself freely and convince voters of their ability to lead efficiently and lawfully the country towards progress. When their terms expire they can be evaluated by voters and democratically re-elected or deposed peaceably. There is no opportunity for dictatorships to arise out of Presidential system. The doors will be opened to honest, fresh political ideas through a direct voting system at all three levels starting from district. Through frequent exercise of voting power, the masses will become mature and their sense of selection will improve. The question becomes now, do we need a Presidential System, “Direct Democracy,” with maximum provincial autonomy or should we continue with the current British Representative System of “Indirect Democracy?

Written by Zulfiqar Gul

Email:  gul.zulfiqar@gmail.com

SOURCE: http://www.pashtunwomenvp.com/index.php/2013-01-28-03-21-27/political/445-does-pakistan-need-presidential-system-like-afghanistan