whats going on?

So the local bodies system that has been in place since 2001 has been abolished. The commissioner raj is back. The MPA's and MNA's are back in charge of development funds. We are back to 1999. It seems anything that happened during the Musharraf era good or bad has to be rolled back no matter the consequences. Supporters of the current move point to this fact that since this system was the creation of a dictator it cant be good. Perhaps its execution at all levels has not been good but conceptually this system is the best way of empowering people at the grass roots level.  As the famous saying goes all politics is local. Yet in Pakistan our political dynasties find it anathema to devolve power. Our babus find it disgraceful to let go of their powerful perches as well. Now the all powerful commissioner will carry out the desires of their all powerful political master, the chief minister. People in Lahore will decide which lane of Mian Channu requires street lighting. The head honcho in Karachi will decide which water course to line in rural Shikarpur. Ditto for other provinces. Welcome to democracy Pakistani style. 

Whats my beef here? Well basically we are reversing a system that provides an excellent forum for participatory democracy as well as accountable local government. If lane so in so in Mian Channu requires street lights the residents of that lane can go to their local councilor who can go to the Nazim and get the funds released. This ruffled feathers. This ruffled the bureaucracy who before this systems inception were the all in all and weren't accountable to anyone locally except to someone like the "khadim e Alla" we have here in Punjab these days. It upset our LEGISLATORS (note the emphasis) both at provincial and federal level as well. It deprived our honorable LEGISLATORS of their right to control the funds for development in their respective constituencies. Their grief is understandable given that our LEGISLATORS don't actually legislate so if you take away development funds from them whats the point of sitting in one of the capital cities. Also who knows the local government might throw up future political  challengers to them in their respective constituencies. You will hear critics say that this system bred corruption. Sure it did. But as much as I'm trying to remember the pre 2001 days i cant recall a system in place that was not corrupt. In fact if Transparency international is to be believed we were much more corrupt before than we are now. So all id say is that in addition to power being devolved, corruption also got devolved.

Like any system this system's effectiveness depended on the individuals involved. I'm sure some were bad but then there were others like the Nazim of Karachi who stood out and actually delivered a lot for his city. At the end of day folks, this system gave people all over Pakistan a chance to participate in grass roots democracy where they had people at the local level they could approach for redress of grievances and whom they could boot out if those people were found wanting in their eyes. One final note regarding this system. The empowerment of women that was happening and could have happened even better if this system was retained will be lost. 33% of the 80000 odd councillors were women.

Coming to my second hot topic which is kind of related. Lately the issue regarding the number of provinces has come into the spotlight. Contrary to this nonsensical view that this is not the time to talk about this issue i believe we should have a healthy debate regarding the issue. I for one am in favour of more administrative units as long as these units are not based on ethnic or linguistic lines. The reason I'm in favour of more administrative units is the same for the local bodies system. Majority of Pakistanis don't actually live in Lahore,Karachi, Islamabad,Peshawar or Quetta. A person in some Chak in Rahim yar Khan for instance is light years away from Lahore. Its impractical for a huge number of them to travel to Lahore to have their voice heard. In my opinion more administrative units will also bury the smaller provinces vs Punjab debate. In addition, if done smartly, it could also provide more unity to us all. However there are problems with this proposal one of which is the increase of government expenditure that will happen with the setting up of new capitals. Our new CM's and governors will demand the protocol that our present lot demands and gets.

Finally on a local Lahori note, our famous Food street of Gawalmandi has ceased to exist. it seems the powers that be could not tolerate another of Musharrafs legacies especially in their stronghold of Gawalmandi. Worry not Lahoris because Karachi's famous Barbecue tonight has opened up shop in Lahore. Who needed that tourist and connoisseur magnet food street anyway?

Jerry's Take: Bringing about a Change - Jarrar Shah

Pakistan has been in the grips of a severe heat wave. This always happens this time of the year. All of us are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the first monsoon rains. This year has been more difficult than usual because of the excessive load shedding (power outages). Here are some interesting facts about the electricity situation in the country. The total capacity of electricity in this country is 19,754MW (economic survey of Pakistan 2008-2009). the current production of electricity in this country is roughly 11,000MW. The demand in this country given the atrocious weather conditions is at its yearly peak which is 15,000 MW. Do the math folks. Should this equation result in load shedding? We are utilising 55% of our total installed capacity of power generation. so whats going on here? in a nutshell, poor governance. The government is not paying the utility companies who cant pay the producers who in turn cant pay the oil and gas companies. Our energy sector is trapped in circular debt. Here's the kicker. In the next two years roughly 10,000MW are going to be coming online in our energy grid. that's good news right? Well ill leave that judgement up to you. the overwhelming majority of power producing units coming up are going to be thermal based i.e running on gas or oil. We already aren't being able to pay our existing thermal units so how are we going to pay these new companies. Well one thing the government could do and is doing is increase the bills it sends us. Once that's done how our industries will compete globally is something beyond me. The effect on domestic inflation wont be nice either. Also what would happen if international oil prices start rocketing towards the $150/barrel mark? Another thing that could happen is that due to the shutting down of various industrial units our consumption could come down so we wont have to run all those expensive thermal units. What would happen to all those jobless youth is something we will worry about when we cross that bridge or i guess in our case not worry at all. Why?

Lately there's been some noise about the water issue. This issue is only going to get worse with time. Our capacity to store water on the Indus is limited and our population growth is not. We have politicised the issue of dams to the detriment of us all. The much awaited monsoon season is all set to hit us. The bulk of that rainfall will be wasted. Why? Because we don't have any dam downstream of Tarbela dam to catch and store that rain water. A lot of the snow that melts each year cant be stored because we only have Tarbela dam on the Indus and no dam upstream of it. We talk incessantly of being an agrarian economy yet over the past so many decades we have made the topic of dams politically taboo in this country. Why?

Apart from the obvious benefits of storing water when its in excess during the summers and monsoon, building dams will also generate thousands of jobs for unskilled workers during construction and later on during construction of new canals etc. The most obvious benefit that will be derived though is on the energy front. We will be providing our consumers and our industry alike with the cheapest source of renewable energy thus leading to massive industrialisation and job creation in this country. We have the capacity to generate 55,000MW of cheap electricity from the river Indus but unfortunately we are not the least bit interested in pursuing this option. Why?

Politics as usual can not go on in this country anymore. Our challenges are too huge and our people have been taken for granted for far too long for this to continue. We must individually and collectively start doing our part in bringing about a change.

One such group of individuals have made a collective called Pakistan Rising that intends to play a part no matter how small in bringing about this change. This group of individuals came together a couple of months back after reports of the Taliban extremists entering Buner. They helped organize a letter campaign and protest rally against extremism in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi. They are also facilitating 400 IDP families at three locations in NWFP and 60 IDP families in Lahore. They have raised and distributed goods worth Rs3.5million in one month for these IDP families. In addition they have held two further protests and vigils one of which was done simultaneously in Lahore and Islamabad with the Lahore event being held at the site of the suicide bombing of the rescue 15 building 3 days after the bombing. Pakistan Rising has also created an awareness campaign in Lahore regarding the menace of extremism and about the need for unity amongst Pakistanis. They need your help though. They need volunteers, members and financial contribution. These are all people who care passionately about this country and have decided to do their part. The plan of Pakistan Rising is simple. They want to create awareness amongst the people of Pakistan so that people can mobilise effectively to pressurize the government of the day. They want to promote unity amongst the provinces and peoples of this land. They want all of you to join them in this endeavor. If others are doing the same thing already then collaboration and coordination would be something that could be done.

For greater details on how to contribute please check out their facebook page or go to

www.pakistanrising.com.pk

the website is still being polished and updated but it should be up and running within a weeks time. Im also a full fledged member of this collective, so if someone needs information from me id be only too happy to oblige.

Pakistan Hamesha Zindabad.

Jerry's Take: Phoenix from the Ashes - Jarrar Shah

Pakistan the T20 Champs 2009

Pakistan cricket is back with a bang!! and so it seems are our collective spirits. Overnight the mood of the country has changed from despair to euphoria and why not. For us cricket is not merely our favorite spectator sport. Its more than that. In India they say its a religion. For us its that and also something more. It defines our identity, shapes and strengthens it. The Brazilians love their soccer like the Indians love their cricket but for Pakistan its cricket that makes us forget our differences and makes us feel one, makes us feel proud Pakistanis. I don't know how this happened but over the years its our cricket team that has managed to transcend our ethnic,sectarian and provincial differences. Either we all despise them when they lose or we all lose ourselves in Ecstasy when they win. from the fisherman of gawadar to the tourist guide of gilgit, from the chai walla of Karachi to the gun maker of Khyber, we stop doing our own thing and start feeling as one, thinking as one, reacting as one, mourning as one or celebrating as one.

We will have our differences. There will be inter provincial disharmony. There will be ethnic tensions in Karachi and elsewhere. Sectarian violence cant be wished away nor the menace of extremism. In spite of all these things our journey as a nation will continue onwards .

Islamabad Celebrates

Celebrations on Sunday night, our response to the earthquake, the lawyers movement, our stiffening resolve against extremism all symbolize our pakistaniyat. With time after weeding out the divisive elements within us, those who gain from pitting us against each other we will attain the promise of this nation. The promise that all of us in our heart of hearts believe in. The promise that led to so many of our forefathers, ordinary citizens sacrificing their lives during partition. The promise that led so many of our compatriots to leave everything they knew for a distant ideal called Pakistan.

Lahore Celebrates

Our bad governance, corruption, lawlessness, load shedding, worsening economy weigh us down. Makes us despair, even leads some to harbor thoughts of abandoning Pakistan. However its moments like Sunday night that make us forget all our problems. It makes us feel truly proud to be Pakistani, a feeling that emanates deep down from inside every Pakistani. No divisive politician or militant, foreign agencies or armies can ever overcome this feeling. its just not possible. Our national heroes, our amazing cricket team just proved that.

Pakistan hamesha zindabad!!

Karachi Celebrates

-----

Photos Credit: AP

Jerry's First Take: On Contradiction and Compliance.

So as usual Pakistan is at a crossroads, passing through the most critical phase of its history. Shahzad Roy had it right in his latest album. every 10 years we seem to be at the most critical phase of our history. If ever there was a country where the adage "history repeats itself" holds true its our motherland.

We crib endlessly over meals and tea, at tea stalls and drawing rooms yet very few of us do anything about it and those who do, do so in an individual capacity.

Now all 170 million of us have grown tired of this. Many have resigned themselves to this fate. Those who can have gotten non green looking passports as backups while very few continue to maintain this disastrous status-quo. We crib endlessly over meals and tea, at tea stalls and drawing rooms yet very few of us do anything about it and those who do, do so in an individual capacity. We blast governments of all hues and stripes and rightly so. Yet very few among us dare to introspect. Many among us lie and cheat regularly to make a quick buck. we have fake doctors and pirs. Our "conservative" merchants jack up prices of essentials just prior to the onset of Ramadan. Hoarding is common place. Treating traffic laws as a nuisance that's better ignored is more the norm than the exception. As a society we take great pride in calling ourselves an Islamic society yet we treat humans, animals and our environment with the utmost contempt.

Our "conservative" merchants jack up prices of essentials just prior to the onset of Ramadan. Hoarding is common place. Treating traffic laws as a nuisance that's better ignored is more the norm than the exception. As a society we take great pride in calling ourselves an Islamic society yet we treat humans, animals and our environment with the utmost contempt.

"safai nisf imaan hai" cleanliness is 50% of our faith yet our streets are filthy, our garbage strewn everywhere with open sewage creating a dream home for all those elements that make our lives a nightmare. Basically what I'm getting at is that we need to take not only ownership of our home but ownership of our streets, of our mohallas, of our cities and finally our Pakistan. little things matter. We worry about the American/Israeli/Indian conspiracy to break up our country yet we do nothing about the pile of garbage on our street corner that mind you, in addition to being an eyesore, is giving rise to a host of easily preventable health problems. We worry about the sheer incompetence of our politicians yet we vote them in time and time again.

So far I've been talking in the most general terms and that's because this is my intro post. I'm sure there are many of you out there who are actually doing something, who are taking responsibility and ownership. We need to spread this. We need to have an awakening, a renaissance. The status-quo wont do anymore. The incompetence of the politicians wont do anymore. We can no longer afford business as usual. The stakes have become just way to big for us to remain oblivious anymore and all of us can do this. We can make a difference.

We are the 6th largest country in the world, one of 7 nuclear weapon states, sitting at the crossroads of China, Central Asia, South Asia and the Middle East. We have, in spite of the efforts of various governments created a platform but now its time to truly achieve our potential because time is running out.

We are the 6th largest country in the world, one of 7 nuclear weapon states, sitting at the crossroads of China, Central Asia, South Asia and the Middle East. We have, in spite of the efforts of various governments created a platform but now its time to truly achieve our potential because time is running out. The extremist so called Muslims are here and (were, fingers crossed) making gains. but once these extremist thugs are defeated and they will be, then what? back to the days of political musical chairs amongst the two families? the biggest challenge to this country does not come from the extremists, at least not yet. Our biggest challenge is our demographic composition.

100 million Pakistanis are under the age of 25. approximately 3 to 4 million new jobs will have to be created each year for them to be employed. The highest number of jobs our nation has ever created is 2.5 million jobs in one year back in 2004-05. Now we have always had a law and order problem in our country. Apart from the extremists and sectarian problem, we have been plagued with street crime, robberies and dacoities since before i was born. Just imagine the pressure on this society, on this country if we fail to cater to the youth of this country in the coming years. Actually we don't have the luxury of even that. We needed to start catering to them yesterday. Apart from petty crime the ranks of extremists could easily be swelled by unemployed, frustrated youth from across the country. However there is a silver lining.

Whereas this happens to be our biggest challenge, it can also become Pakistan's biggest opportunity. These 100 million or so are our version of the 'baby boomers'. If most of them end up with jobs the amount of consumption these guys will undertake from buying homes, cars, electronics, eating out,planning vacations etc will drive our country from the third world into the first in one generation. Wishful thinking? Perhaps. but this has happened else where before and frankly what other choice do we have?

We must do what we can to make this country a better place to live. We must ensure that the political governments are held to account and that they actually start governing. We need to shake off our political apathy (and drawing room conversations are political apathy) and make our voices heard.

Finally in conclusion, all of us have to take ownership of this country. We must do what we can to make this country a better place to live. We must ensure that the political governments are held to account and that they actually start governing. We need to shake off our political apathy (and drawing room conversations are political apathy) and make our voices heard. Do a letter campaign, hold protests, come on the media, write blogs and/or for newspapers and do what we can to create awareness. If you know people who have access to the corridors of power, talk to them, bring about a change in their thinking and attitude. We need to get off our collective backsides because like i said before what other choice do we have?

Pakistan Hamesha Zindabad!!!

PS: Congrats to the Cricket Team and all of you on reaching the T20 semis!!