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Nuclear energy for Muslim States
Barrister Harun ur Rashid
Nuclear energy is being increasingly preferred to fossils-based energy because of several factors in both the developed and the developing world. One is that whatever their attraction, renewable energy sources, such as biogas or even solar, are unlikely to meet the energy demands of the world's rapidly growing urban population.
According to one estimate, the number of people living in cities may double to almost 7.5 billion between now and 2050, while the rural population could fall from 3 to 2.5 billion. Alternative, renewable fuels are unlikely to be able to cope with the strain this will put on centralised energy systems.
The second major factor is the need to tackle climate change. The only realistic chance of slowing global warming is to drastically reduce carbon emissions. As the nuclear industry has been pointing out for several years, nuclear energy is an obvious way to do this.
Compared to coal and hydroelectric dams, nuclear energy is the safest and cleanest way of obtaining energy. And the fuel it uses, uranium, is more abundant than fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas).
This prediction is behind the UK government's new energy policy paper, published in 2006. The paper concludes that expanding nuclear energy is an essential component of any strategy capable of combating global warming while continuing to meet the country's energy needs.
A third factor is the evolution of nuclear technology itself. The new technological advances and new reactor designs have both reduced the likelihood of accidents and bolstered our ability to deal with any that do occur.
According to nuclear experts, third generation reactors, with an output of 600 MW, are simpler, smaller, more rugged, and reduce substantially the possibility of a core meltdown accident, from a likelihood of 1 in 20,000 to 1 in 800,000 per reactor year.
Furthermore, third generation reactors are known to have, for example, 80 per cent fewer control cables and 60 per cent less piping. They are standardised to expedite licensing and reduce construction time. Fourth generation fusion reactors, one hopes, will be coming into operation in the foreseeable future.
Despite what activists and the media say, experts who favour nuclear energy argue, the wastes that nuclear power create, are far less of a problem than those produced by coal, or the silt that builds up behind dams. Coal-fired plants generate 320 lbs. of ash and other poisons per person per year, of which 10 per cent is spewed into the atmosphere.
Experts say a nuclear power plant generates radioactive wastes the size of one aspirin tablet per person per year (a plant's yearly wastes fit comfortably in a small ditch). Disposal personnel encapsulate nuclear waste in (fireproof, water-proof, and earthquake-proof) boron-silicate glass or ceramic and then bury these now effectively deep in the ground.
When one speaks suitability of nuclear energy, it is natural that one is reminded of Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986. Experts hold the view that Chernobyl accident is unique. They argue that kind of accident will not happen in any other nuclear power plants because all the reactors currently in operation around the world are placed inside a containment building while Chernobyl was not.
France uses nuclear power to generate 77 per cent of its electricity, and Russia uses 20 per cent of its total energy requirements. More than 35 nuclear power plants are currently under construction around the world, 24 of them in Asia including in China. Today about 12,500 nuclear plants provide safe, clean and cheap energy to about 32 countries.
Status of Muslim States
It is reported that out of 439 nuclear reactors, now operating in 32 countries, only two are located in Muslim countries. Pakistan has nuclear reactors and Iran has been working on its first reactor with Russian support.
In recent months, at least a dozen other Muslim countries have expressed interest in nuclear power. Javier Solana, EU chief for foreign affairs, on November 6 said that he was struck by the fact that Morocco, Egypt and Jordan, among others, have started ambitious nuclear programmes, something that was unthinkable only two years ago.
The emerging consensus is that countries wanting to start their own civilian nuclear programme should get access to nuclear fuel, but not the enrichment technology that can be used for nuclear weapons.
Britain has reportedly floated the idea of international bonds to guarantee access to nuclear fuel. Solana, who is convening an international meeting in January, has urged the creation of an international enrichment centre under multilateral supervision that gives all states equal access to fuel at competitive prices. IAEA, the UN agency, has suggested that the agency could supervise an international enrichment site.
Meanwhile French President Sarkozy is reportedly pursuing aggressively a new policy to give Muslim countries access to nuclear power and thus win lucrative contracts for France.
After signing a memorandum of understanding with Libya in the summer, Sarkozy struck a preliminary cooperation with Morocco last month. It is reported that the French President is likely to discuss the issue with Algeria in December and Saudi Arabia in January. France is also talking with Jordan, UAE, Egypt, Qatar and Tunisia.
It seems that regional cooperation on nuclear power is one of the pillars of foreign policy of the French President.
Development of nuclear energy goes to the heart of a 21st century-dilemma: rising petrol prices and environmental concerns are fuelling a global comeback in generating nuclear power. If nuclear fuel is provided, there is less likely for nuclear proliferation and one of the alarms for the West is resolved.
It is noted that Bangladesh government reportedly obtained a green signal from IAEA for nuclear energy because of the increasing wide gap between demand and supply. For the last 36 years, the Roopur 300-500 MW nuclear power plant remained ignored and that the site at Roopur for a reactor was selected in the 60s.
Bangladesh may approach France, Russia and China for their assistance for building a nuclear reactor in Bangladesh. India recently has concluded a deal with Russia for its assistance for building four nuclear reactors.
The writer is a former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.
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MINORITIES IN INDIA
Tamil Nadu enacts law granting reservations for Muslims and Christians
S. Viswanathan in Chennai
In keeping with its tradition of using affirmative action as an instrument of maintaining the socio-economic equilibrium, the Tamil Nadu government recently enacted a law granting separate reservation for Muslims and Christians belonging to the Backward Classes (B.Cs) in education and employment. Under the law, unanimously adopted by the State Assembly on October 22, the two religious minority communities will get a share of 3.5 per cent each in government jobs and seats in educational institutions within the existing 30 per cent reservation for the B.Cs.
About 90 per cent of the Muslims and 75 per cent of the Christians in the State already figure in the Backward Classes list. Of Tamil Nadu's 6.24 crore people, 3,470,647 are Muslims and 3,785,060 are Christians, according to Census 2001.
Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi hailed the support of the Opposition to the move "on this revolutionary day in the history of social justice". The legislation replaces the Tamil Nadu Backward Class Christians and Backward Class Muslims (Reservation of seats in educational institutions, including private educational institutions and of appointments or posts in the services under the State) Ordinance 2007, which was promulgated on September 12. The new law is in response to consistent representations from the Christian and Muslim communities included in the list of Backward Classes for providing separate reservation for them in admissions to educational institutions and appointment to government service "as they could not compete with other communities" in the B.C. list "to get their legitimate share". The principal purpose of making the 3.5 per cent share as a sub-quota in the reservation for Backward Classes is to ensure that the overall reservation does not exceed the existing 69 per cent. (The matter is already up for judicial scrutiny.) It would also make it clear that this model of 'reservation within reservation' is not based on religion but on the educational and economic backwardness of the minority communities.
The Act is based on the recommendation of the State Backward Classes Commission headed by Justice M.S. Janardhanam. The recommendation itself rests on the report of the Second Backward Classes Commission headed by J.A. Ambasankar in the 1980s.
Reservation in Tamil Nadu has a long history (Frontline, April 20, 2007). Even in the early stages of colonial rule, the British Raj recognised the plight of Muslims and attempted corrective action. Muslims and Christians had their share in the early reservation system. In the much-talked-about Communal Government Order of 1921, Muslims and Christians were treated on a par with Brahmins and all three were allotted 16 per cent each of all government posts in the then Madras Presidency. This reservation order, which was implemented in 1927, was in force for a little more than 20 years.
After the Constitution came into force, the Madras High Court quashed the Communal G.O. on the grounds that it was violative of the Constitution. The Supreme Court upheld the judgment and Dravidar Kazhagam founder 'Periyar' E.V. Ramasami spear-headed a struggle against the judgment. Later, through a Constitutional Amendment, Articles 15 (4) and 16 (4) were introduced to empower the States to provide reservation for the educationally and socially backward classes also in educational institutions and government service. Subsequently, the Indian Union Muslim League and Christian organisations, with the support of other political parties in the State, fought for reservation for the two communities. As a result, social groups among the two communities were included in the list of Backward Classes on the basis of reports by the State Backward Classes Commissions.
Although almost all Christian 'caste stratifications' - based on their former Hindu backward caste groups ... have been included in the B.C. list, Dalit Christians are not included in the Scheduled Castes (S.C.) list on a par with Dalit Hindus. They are included only in the B.C. list.
The campaign for inclusion of these people in the S.C. list has gained momentum in recent years as most of them continue to be victims of prejudice. Many Christian organisations, which have taken up their cause, contend that the battle for social justice will be incomplete until Dalit Christians' demand for S.C. status is achieved.
The new law is a solace to backward class Christians and Muslims in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere, who, according to community leaders, are victims of the callous indifference of the ruling political class. The abject poverty among these sections has time and again been highlighted by study groups and government-nominated committees and commissions.
Muslims across the country are agitated about the Union government's silence over the Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee revelations on the community's poor performance in several social indicators and its recommendations for special governmental initiatives (Frontline, December 6, 2006). Christians, on their part, are disappointed that their pleas to include Dalit Christians in the S.C. list have remained unanswered for long.
Dalit Christians are deprived of the benefits of reservation that their Hindu, Jain and Buddhist counterparts enjoy. They are sore that there has been no follow-up from the Union government on the Ranganath Misra Commission report, which recommended S.C. status to all Dalits irrespective of their religion.
The latest Tamil Nadu reservation law has generated hope among people of both minority communities about early amelioration of their grievances. Leaders of these communities have appealed to Karunanidhi to use his good offices to persuade the Union government to implement the recommendations of the Sachar Committee and the Misra Commission.
There is, however, a strong perception that reservation alone cannot transform the lives of oppressed people unless it is followed by sincere and intensive efforts to clear the backlog in respect of education and poverty alleviation programmes and development initiatives. The Sachar Committee has recommended that a Sub Plan be created for the development of Muslims on the lines of the one for the Scheduled Tribes. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Muslim organisations and political parties have called for the implementation of this recommendation.
S. Peter Alphonse, Congress member of the State Assembly, lauded the State government for bringing out a foolproof law to provide separate reservation for Muslims and Christians within the 30 per cent reservation for Backward Classes. He said Dalit Christians lost out in respect of State assistance under poverty alleviation and development programmes meant for Scheduled Castes for the simple reason that they were not Hindu Dalits.
Noted Tamil poet Abdul Rahman, member of the State Urdu Akademi, said "the acid test for democracy lies in the way the minorities are treated in a society". He said the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam had all along taken interest in fulfilling the legitimate aspirations of the Muslim community. "Large sections of Muslims have suffered poverty and backwardness for various reasons, and intensive state efforts are needed to improve their lot," he said.>
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NEWS NOTES FROM SYDNEY
Fazle Rashid
Landslide for Labour
Australia's Conservative Prime Minister John Howard suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the left-leaning opposition, whose leader Kevin Rudd has promised to immediately sign the Kyoto Protocol on global warming and withdraw 550 Australian combat troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Rudd said he would withdraw Australia's combat troops from Iraq, leaving twice that number in mostly security roles. Howard had said all the troops will stay as long as needed.
The change from Howard to Rudd also marks a generational shift for Australia. Rudd, a 50-year-old former diplomat who speaks fluent Chinese, urged voters to support him because Howard, 68, was out of touch with modern Australia and ill-equipped to deal with new-age issues such as climate change.Labour won 86 seats 10 more than required to form the government
Howard lost to Ms.Maxine McKew. The new government will be sworn in on Monday. Kevin Rudd, prime minister elect immediately distanced himself from Washington. He promised to form a government based on merit and performance. Rudd said he would visit Washington next year and assured Bush he valued the US alliance. His first foreign visit will be to Indonesia for a climate change summit.
The Liberal party is reeling under the impact of the electoral debacles. Peter Costello has refused to head the Liberal Party.
Middle East peace
The White House is anxious to retrieve the rapidly declining image of the Bush presidency and repair the severely bruised international stature of America. It is pinning high hopes in clinching a breakthrough deal in the creation of two independent states --- Palestine and Israel --- during high profile Middle East talks.
The White House is confidant that such a deal will be possible before the termination of the Bush presidency in January 2009.
The other key players in the dialogue are not as enthusiastic as the White House. Even US secretary of state Condi Rice does not share the optimism of the White House. But the notable feature of the talk is the presence of Syria, a country often painted as a rogue nation, by President Bush himself. Saudi Arabia will also be sitting for the first time with Israel.
President Bush had meticulously prepared the ground. He summoned the leaders of Egypt, Palestine and Israel to the White House for a pre-summit meeting. Israel President Shimon Peres said peace is not possible within the timeframe chalked out by the White House
Mahmoud Abbas and Ehud Olmert have spent more time together than any previous pair of Palestinian and Israeli leaders. Against the advice of his own army and intelligence agencies Olmert sanctioned the transfer of 25 Russian made armoured vehicles, 1000 rifles and 2 million rounds of ammunition to Abbas.
Savage law in Saudi Arabia
The turn of event in Saudi Arabia has overtaken the importance of the Middle-East peace initiatives. Saudi Government affirmed the sentence of 200 lashes for a 19 year old girl who was seen sitting with a man in a car who was not her relative. Seven Saudi hoodlums attacked and raped her.
Saudi government instead of punishing the attackers held the poor girl responsible. The incident has an ethnic colour because the girl who was raped is a Shia.
Hillary Clinton has condemned the sentencing of the Saudi rape victim in strongest possible language and harshly rebuked the White House for its lukewarm response. She asked Bush to call King Abdullah and force him to drop all charges.
Hillary Clinton said "I will once again make human rights an American priority around the globe." US State Department only expressed 'astonishment'.
Ms. Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand joined Hillary Clinton in condemning Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia was among Arab nations which opposed a UN resolution seeking annulment of the capital punishment.
Chavez again
Venezuela President Hugo Chavez is in the news again. He has gained notoriety for his acerbic tongue. His tongue lashing has both annoyed and pleased people world wide. Hugo called his Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe a shameless liar. Alvaro responded calling Chavez "legitimiser of terrorism "
Chavez said Colombia deserves a better president. His critics said Chavez 'he is talking one day against Spain, next against US, another day against Mexico, Peru and Bolivia.
Uribe angered Chavez by crying off from a meeting that was aimed finding reconciliation between the government and the rebels in Colombia. Chavez was to mediate at the talks.
Commonwealth
The Commonwealth, whose membership is restricted to only former British colonies, has decided to throw open its gate for other countries as well. Rwanda, Madagascar, Algeria and East Timor will become Commonwealth members before the next summit.
US aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk
China first refused then swiftly reversed its decision to allow US aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk to make a courtesy trip to Hong Kong. The name of Kitty Hawk was in the lips of all Bangladeshis during the War of Independence in 1971.
Hundreds of relatives of the members of Kitty Hawk crews flew into Hong Kong from different parts of US to be with their dear ones during the Thanksgiving celebration that is observed on the last Thursday of November each year.
John Howard
The outgoing and defeated Australia prime minister John Howard has been offered $ one million by a publisher for his memoir. Tony Blair former British Prime Minister is also writing a book on years in the 10 Downing Street. He has also been paid a six-digit figure.
Tony Blair once wanted to be converted into a Catholic during his prime ministership. He was prevented from doing so because it would have ensued a huge controversy. No Catholic has yet become prime minister of Britain.
If Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina wish to write their memoirs the books would become instant best sellers. The books by the two jailed leaders would make fascinating reading.
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When will anarchy stop in Sri Lanka?
Jehan Perera in Colombo
There has been heavy fighting in recent weeks on land three fronts of the rebel controlled territory in the north of Sri Lanka. Last week Sri Lankan navy and Sea Tigers, the naval wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have fought a battle in coastal waters off the north west of the island. The navy says 17 rebels were killed.
At a recent meeting in Colombo where views on the prevailing situation in the north and east were being exchanged, the persons who had come down from that part of the country remained silent. After the meeting they explained why. The anarchy that currently prevails in the north and east, where people are abducted and killed on a daily basis, has made them fear for their lives even in Colombo. Just prior to the crucial second reading of the budget, at which the fate of the government hung in the balance, an opposition TNA parliamentarian's close relative was abducted in the east by one of the armed groups operating there. He was one of the exceptions to escape with his life and was released in Colombo after the vote in Parliament. Others are killed routinely.
In the run up to the make or break vote on the budget, the media reported that the TNA parliamentarians who represent the Tamil people of the north and east, had been threatened not to vote against the government and bring it down. Pillayan who heads the Pillayan group that has apparently taken over the initiative from the Karuna-led Karuna group that broke away from the LTTE in 2004, was candid about the incident. He was reported in the media as having informed the TNA that they ought to vote with the government when it came to the budget. The hostage taking was meant to reinforce that point. The TNA parliamentarian concerned abstained from the Parliamentary vote. In the meantime the Pillayan group works alongside the government in the east, and perhaps elsewhere.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the government's efforts to impose a military solution on the LTTE in the north and east are having implications in the rest of the country. This is not only in terms of the economic costs of war that has led inflation to new heights and led to a slow down in infrastructure development. The implications of the military solution in the north and east are being felt in considerable measure in the loss of democratic freedoms and protections by sections of the people living outside of the north and east, and even in Colombo. Some months ago, Tamils living in Colombo were subjected to abductions, ransom taking and killings on a large scale. The latest victim is the independent media.
In the north and east, the government's military control is being supplemented by resort to armed Tamil parties, be they the EPDP, PLOTE, Karuna group and Pillayan group.
Commando attack
The association that these groups have with the legitimate armed forces of the state are likely to lead to impunity, not only in the north and east, as at present, but also in other parts of the country. The nocturnal commando style raid on the printing press of the Leader Publications that led to it being burnt down is an indication of the impunity that exists at the present time. This attack had a resemblance to the March 2006 attack on the Uthayan press in Jaffna. Both presses lay within the high security zones of Ratmalana and Jaffna respectively. There have so far been no arrests or suspects announced by the government in either case.
The Sunday Leader newspaper has made a name for itself as an outspoken critic of the present government and as an advocate of a negotiated political solution to the ethnic conflict. Threats of aggression and death issued to journalists judged by some to be injurious to political parties symbolise a canker in the body politic.
Distorted mandate
Today armed groups are highly visible on the roads and other public places in the east. They are everywhere with guns and without being in uniform. No one is quite sure who they are. Apart from the Pillayan group, there are other armed groups that are believed to be operating in the east. These include the Karuna group, the EPDP, PLOTE and other armed Tamil parties. Some of these, such as the EPDP and PLOTE have entered the democratic mainstream. At the same time they have been permitted by the government to remain armed to protect themselves from the LTTE which would kill them if it could. But with so many groups in action in the east, there is the appearance of anarchy.
The trajectory of governance at the present time makes it increasingly unlikely that the country will be spared the anarchy that now exists in the north and east. President Mahinda Rajapaksa who won the Presidential election of November 2005 with a slender majority of 180,000 votes out of a total voting population of 12 million (from which nearly 1 million Tamil voters were prevented from voting by the LTTE), now claims a popular mandate for militarily defeating the LTTE and taking the country to peace and a political solution.
But at the presidential election President Rajapaksa campaigned for peace with honour and promised a political solution in three months. He also said he would meet personally with LTTE leader Velupillai Pirapaharan to negotiate a settlement. The President's appearance of confidence in his mission of war, and the assistance of 109 ministers of government, most of whom echo him, has served to swing public opinion in favour of a reinterpreted and distorted mandate.
The question is whether this type of anarchy is what the people of Sri Lanka wanted of their own volition. Or is it that the people wanted something else and are being misled by a charismatic leadership with a sense of war mission, even if it is leading the country to anarchy and to doom? On November 19 the national budget vote that the government survived showed the importance of the 26 parliamentarians who have crossed over at different intervals from the main opposition party, the UNP, to the government. The people who voted for them had a different vision placed before them by the opposition leadership, and it is for that vision that those people voted. But the 26 defectors from the UNP, who describe themselves as reformists, are sustaining the government in an entirely different direction of war and breakdown of rule of law.
Minority parties
However, the 118-102 victory in the November 19 vote does not guarantee lasting success for the government. The third and final reading of the budget on December 14 will necessitate another crucial vote and their remains a strong possibility that the government will lose this vote. The decision of the JVP to oppose the government in the November 19 vote may prove decisive when it comes to the December 14 vote. On the one hand, the JVP shares the government's militaristic and nationalist approach to the ethnic conflict and has the same reservations about an ethnic-based power sharing political solution.
But as a party that also represents the impoverished and marginalized in society, the JVP has also to deal with is that the perception of rampant corruption, wastage and ostentatious living in the government is generating resentment amongst the general population. In the run up to the budget the JVP insisted that the government should prune down its jumbo cabinet, and the number of ministers, who in various positions number 108 at the latest count. The government's strategy of survival has been to lure opposition parliamentarians over to its side with the reward of a ministerial portfolio and the personal and political benefits that accrue to such positions.
Ironically, an important reason for the government to survive the November 19 vote was the support of two important ethnic minority parties. The SLMC with 6 seats that represents the Muslims of the war-affected east, and the CWC with 7 seats that represents the Tamils in the central hills, voted along with the ruling coalition. Apart from the desire to be on the winning side and thereby retain the plums of governmental office, there is little reason for the ethnic minorities to be with a government so wedded to war and ethnic majority Sinhalese nationalism as the present one.
Now that the JVP has demonstrated its willingness to vote against the government, the leaders of these two parties may decide that their bread is buttered on the other side. The rational calculation of their self-interest may now coincide with the interests of the people who voted for them. One of the more tragic features of Sri Lankan democracy is the manner in which political leaders dishonour the mandates they asked for, and were given by the people. The President who promised a political solution within three months and to personally meet the LTTE leader to negotiate with him, the UNP reformists who defected from their party to assist the government to bring back practices of good governance and peace making, and the SLMC and CWC leaderships need to reconsider their stances.
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Nation pays heavily for leaders' folly
Fakir S. Ayazuddin in Karachi
Musharraf has proved himself to be the most outstanding politician in Pakistan, and while he has shown nervousness at times, he has nonetheless emerged as the outright winner in the political sweepstakes.
He could not have achieved this without the greed and stupidity of his adversaries.
General Musharraf had thrice offered Benazir Bhutto to make Makhdoom Amin Fahim, the leader of the Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) in the National Assembly, as prime minister of Pakistan. But she refused all the times because she would settle for anything other than herself. The cost to her party cannot be calculated. The party's standing in the Punjab has been eroding, and today it is practically non existent. She has absolutely no one to blame except herself. Somehow the spell she has on the Americans holds her in good stead, but even that was shattered when Negroponte refused to meet with her on his recent trip.
The PPP hierarchy is still in a state of shock, but none dares to ask Benazir why she has brought the Party to such a state. It is almost as if she deliberately set about destroying the position of the PPP in the political games that are being played out. The street power in Sindh was shown as hollow. And such power appears nonexistent in the Punjab. After the initial reception at Karachi, the numbers just vanished, and try as she did, nobody showed up. Even in Larkana, her own home, it was worse and after spending just one day she rushed back to Karachi.
The Western Media also packed their bags, and went back to seek other more sensational spots, for the excitement of an adoring mob failed to materialise. In a word she is a bit passé now. After Lahore and Islamabad, the picture was clear. The Chief Minister of Punjab had done his homework, and Benazir had played into Musharraf's hand by her confrontational stance. This proof was laid before Negroponte, along with the NRO, which showed the US that Musharraf had indeed kept his word by pardoning her considerable corrupt practices. This pardon may prove extraordinarily expensive for Musharraf in the end.
She however had no cause for her obdurate stance. Will the PPP consider the damage to her party? Her insistence on a short date for the elections has brought the date forward to 9th January 2008, only six weeks away. When I asked some PPP stalwarts, they were not hopeful of putting together a proper fight in such a short time, nor do they have the funds. It is unlikely that she will bankroll it for them!
At the same time Nawaz Sharif is holding out in Jeddah for an equally rigid stance in refusing to even speak to Musharraf. While this maybe a principled position, he must allow Shabaz to lead Pakistan Muslim League (N) in his absence, and continue the struggle within the country. To carry on any further in this manner will be a disastrous handicap for his followers. He has also prevented Shabaz from becoming the Prime Minister, which was offered to him twice. Both Benazir and Nawaz have refused to allow their respective party leaders to become prime minister and both the PPP and the PML(N) have suffered hugely because of this stubbornness. Of course the main beneficiary has been the PML (Q) faction and Musharraf himself.
After Musharraf's verification by the Supreme Court, we have the current scenario of the PML(Q) and the MQM with the MMA sweeping the Votes, and the PPP trailing miserably. In politics it does not pay to be an also ran. This nightmare is becoming apparent to the PPP and the PML (N) group by the day. Losing in Politics in this part of the world has serious consequences. Politics is a source of livelihood, and in the rural areas survival and without it is next to impossible. So we have the members of the two largest political parties suffering at the hands of their own top leadership.
It is time that both Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto stopped playing their dangerous selfish games, and thought of their respective parties and the country. They should realize that the PML (Q) and the MQM and the MMA are ready for the election. To boycott now, the PPP and the PML (N) could be marginalised for ever.
In the final analysis, it is also important to have an effective opposition. To counter a rubberstamp parliament, an opposition is essential to the well-being of a nation.
With Aitzaz, Amin Fahim, Shabaz Sharif, all upright, outstanding, capable gentlemen, it is indeed a pity that they were not given the chance to lead. Perhaps their time has come.
History will surely place the blame solidly on the PPP and the PML (N) for not placing their prime minister when the offer was on the table, directly resulting in the removal of the Supreme Court Judges, the suspension of the Constitution, and now the emergency. The nation is paying a very heavy price.
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ISLAMABAD DIARY
Jonaid Iqbal
The political landscape of Pakistan has changed after Benazir Bhutto's arrival on Oct. 18. We now have her rival Nawaz Sharif back in Pakistan, after seven years exile in Jeddah.
About two lakh (200,000) supporters came to welcome Sharif at Lahore airport last Sunday which is less than Benazir's claim of 3 million people who came to welcome her.
The fact that fewer people came to welcome Sharif can be ascribed to the fact that in the case of Sharif, his supporters received only a day's notice, whereas PPP had two weeks time to motivate people for the rally that she wished to be present in her reception line.
This comparison does not make any one of the two leaders lesser in importance. Both are now in the public eye, and the people are hoping that they would play a role in bringing them back as citizens of the state, in the eye of the law, whereas, now, they are little less, after their right of assembly and freedom of expression was stolen.
It would be futile to deny that the two leaders have returned to the country and on the political scene to participate [and win] in the general election scheduled on 8th January, even as they keep on saying, it would be a botched one, if held in a period of emergency, without an impartial and not fully constituted election commission (still lacking two out of four members). Sharif said, the EC was part of the problem.
In fact All Parties Democratic movement (APDM) gave out in a press conference that in view of the limitation, they would want all parties to boycott the election, with a dramatic exhibition by cricket hero, Imran Khan, who tore up his ballot paper saying he would not participate in the election.
However, Bhutto is going ahead with preparation and has awarded tickets to her party stalwarts to contest the election. Sharif says he would want to participate, though the circumstances in which the election would be less propitious. He is also talking of persuading Bhutto to boycott it until the PCO and emergency are revoked and the pre-Nov 3 -- on which date the PC0 and emergency was imposed -- judges were reinstated and the restriction on free press is withdrawn.
All private TV channels were plugged off on Nov. 3. Geo TV had been very harsh in running a cartoon feature about three faces of President Musharraf, one as the Chief of Army Staff fishing for extension for one more term, second as President, and the third as patron of a political party, while still functioning as President. The new dissension finds it very difficult to forgive Geo. Therefore, it cannot resume transmission, but it is now running programmes via the Internet.
General Pervez Musharraf visited the army general headquarters to make his farewell.
Then, after taking oath, Mr. Pervez Musharraf could go on ruling the country as a civilian President, secure in his position, because as he said he would continue to enjoy the backing and confidence of the army, a duty which was found lacking on Oct. 12, 1999 when the General pulled off the 'counter coup'..
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