Playing with fire
THE BJP’s reckless and dangerous move to revoke the special status of India-held Kashmir as enshrined in the Indian constitution has raised the threat of turmoil in the subcontinent to significant levels.
In effect, the hard-line Hindu zealots who surround Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have convinced him to dismiss international opinion — which firmly considers Kashmir a disputed territory — and forge ahead on this destructive path by subsuming the occupied region into the Indian union.
While this nefarious aim has long been on the BJP’s agenda, it is after the last Indian general election that Mr Modi and company gathered the confidence — some would say foolhardiness — to press ahead with it.
Drunk on power and ambition, the Indian establishment has decided to risk playing with fire for petty political gains.
However, the question that must be asked is: where are those who, not too long ago, were willing to mediate between Pakistan and India on the Kashmir question? Indeed, the American reaction to India’s moves in Kashmir has been massively disappointing.
The US State Department spokesperson issued a wishy-washy statement on the matter that glaringly left out Pakistan’s position on the issue.
The statement, instead, appeared to indirectly support New Delhi’s outrageous claims, observing that “… the Indian government has described these actions as strictly an internal matter. …”
Whatever terms the Indian government may use to justify its malevolent actions in Kashmir, the US should have the moral courage to call a spade a spade and take a balanced view of the matter.
US President Donald Trump’s offer to mediate between Islamabad and Delhi seems to have disappeared into thin air, as the US has offered a clichéd statement to address a critical issue.
However, one positive development that has emerged from the events of the last few days is that the leadership in occupied Kashmir has been united against India’s dubious designs.
While Hurriyat leaders such as Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and JKLF head Yaseen Malik have openly challenged India in the region, even some of Delhi’s erstwhile loyalists in IHK have clearly rejected moves to annex Kashmir.
Mehbooba Mufti, former chief minister of IHK, termed the decision to revoke Article 370 as “the darkest day in Indian democracy”, while Omar Abdullah, another former chief minister, has also slammed the move.
Perhaps now the time is right for Kashmiri leaders of different persuasions to bury their differences and join forces to confront India on this dire issue; this is beyond politics and indeed concerns the very survival of Kashmir as a distinct entity.
Moreover, Pakistan has done well to contact foreign leaders, including the Malaysian and Turkish leaders, and take them on board regarding Kashmir.
It is time that the OIC took a strong stance and pursued Kashmir’s case on the world stage.
Pakistan’s voice alone may be drowned out; but were the OIC to lend support to the suffering Kashmiris, the world may well listen.
Reviving steel mills
LESS than three months after the Economic Coordination Committee decided to place Pakistan Steel Mills on the list of entities to be privatised, Prime Minister Imran Khan has now announced that his government intends to save and restore the loss-making enterprise. This change of heart has come when the government must prepare to enlist the services of ‘reputable international auditors’ to carry out a new audit of the enterprise and publish the results by the end of December 2019 as per the commitment given to the International Monetary Fund in the latest programme. Earlier in the year, we saw the government debating various options regarding the PSM, including entering into a ‘public-private partnership’ with Russian or Chinese companies. In April, the minister of industries said that a minimum injection of $100m would be required to revive the steel mills, concluding that it would be better to simply privatise the entity. On this basis, the industries ministry prepared a summary for the appointment of a transaction advisory consortium to help draft the privatisation process, and a month later the summary was agreed to during an ECC meeting chaired by the finance adviser.
By saying that his government would not privatise the steel mills, but would instead work for its ‘revival’, Mr Khan has overruled the ministry and the ECC, as well as complicated the commitments that had already been given to the IMF in July. The ECC decision of May had itself overruled an earlier ECC decision against privatisation that was made in November 2018, by the same government but a different finance team. So we now have two U-turns, not one, in an important policy matter that is also the subject of commitments given to the IMF. Having made this announcement, the government must now answer some basic questions. Who will pay for the costs of this revival? Who will draft the roadmap for this revival? And more to the point, did the prime minister consult the ministries of industries and finance, both of which were involved in the earlier decision to move ahead with privatisation, before deciding? And why this sudden about-face in the matter? What prompted the prime minister, who must surely be busy with other very important considerations weighing down upon his office, to make such a decision about the steel mills? With this announcement, indications are growing that the government lacks the wherewithal to see the IMF programme through.
Ban on CNG and LPG
IN recent weeks, CNG-operated vehicles have been in the news for the sudden spike in prices that have impacted public transport in parts of the country, but the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority has now placed an outright ban on the use of CNG and LPG in all public transport vehicles, including school vans. The measure has been taken for the stated purpose of reducing “risk to public life and property” in the wake of several horrific accidents involving CNG-run vehicles in recent years — the consequence of a dire lack of safety standards and procedures. In June, three people were killed when their vehicle caught fire due to a cylinder explosion in Ziarat. Earlier in May, five passengers (including two children) were killed and several others critically injured in another cylinder explosion in a van in Kashmore. In September 2018, two students died in Muzaffargarh when the driver of the school van reportedly stepped out to light his cigarette and did not notice the gas leak from the tank. And in May 2013, 17 schoolchildren and a teacher were killed when a fire erupted inside their school bus in Gujrat — one of the most horrific accidents in a list of many of a similar nature.
Given all these tragic deaths, it is not surprising that the government now wants to outlaw CNG-run vehicles used for public transport altogether. But not too long ago, Pakistani governments championed CNG as the locally produced, environmentally friendly alternative to petrol and diesel. The cheaper costs quickly made them popular amongst consumers. Even now, despite the price hike, CNG and LPG remain the more economical options for a large section of citizens. The unauthorised spread of filling points, stations and workshops operating without any regulations or standardisation is largely to be blamed for the rise in accidents, or the accidents waiting to happen. Instead of resorting to an outright ban — which is unlikely to be successful in the long run — perhaps the government should consider addressing this aspect.