Pakistan: General Developments - Musharraf warns of new military coup in Pakistan

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Column: The wondrous world of science​

PROF ATTA-UR-RAHMAN FELLOW, ROYAL SOCIETY
Sunday, 17 Oct, 2010 | 09:25 AM PST |

Controlling world climate/agriculture

The European Union expressed its concern officially about a secret US programme, jointly funded by the US Air Force, the US Navy, the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the University of Alaska. The Haarp (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Programme) is a highly controversial US programme which aims at manipulating the ionosphere.

This is a layer of the earth's atmosphere which extends from about 70 kilometres to about 300 kilometres above the earth's surface, a region where the atmosphere is very thin so that UV and X-rays can penetrate it easily. However, there are still many gas molecules around to react with these rays so that ions are readily generated—hence, the name 'ionosphere'.

It has been alleged that the programme aims to control the weather by manipulating the ions in the ionosphere, and thereby control the world—as growing food is dependent on weather. It may also affect plate tectonics causing earthquakes, floods through torrential rains and trigger tsunamis.

The experiments involve using electromagnetic frequencies to fire powerful pulsed energy beams to excite a certain region of the ionosphere. Energy directed by powerful lasers can heat up the ionosphere and may control weather, making it a potentially devastating war weapon.

The European Union resolution was a serious blow to attempts by US agencies to portray the Haarp as a harmless research project. It proved that there was a real world threat being felt even by European countries, and that it was not just an imaginary figment of empty conspiracy theories. The EU resolution stated, "The EU considers the Haarp by virtue of its far-reaching impact on the environment to be a global concern and calls for its legal, ecological and ethical implications to be examined by an international independent body before any further research and testing; regrets the repeated refusal of the United States Administration to send anyone in person to give evidence to the public hearing." http://www.europarl.europa.eu/pv2/p...E@BIBLIO99|NUMERO@5|YEAR@99|PLAGE@1&LANGUE=EN

The main Instrument used by the Haarp is known as the 'Ionospheric Reseach Instrument' (IRI) which is a powerful high frequency radio-transmitter comprising 180 antennas over a rectangular area of 33 acres at a US Air Force site in Gaskona, Alaska. The project aims at sending pulsed or continuous 3.6 MW signals to the ionosphere.

The main goal of the Haarp is stated to be scientific research on the ionosphere. It is difficult to study the ionosphere by conventional means since air is too thin for weather balloons to reach it. Satellites are also unable to operate there because they require the vacuum in space to function optimally.

Prof Michel Chossudovsky, Professor at University of Ottawa in an article entitled, Washington's new world order weapons have the ability to trigger climate change, writes, "Recent scientific evidence suggests that the Haarp is fully operational and has the ability of potentially triggering floods, droughts, hurricanes and earthquakes. From a military standpoint, it is a weapon of mass destruction. Potentially, it constitutes an instrument of conquest capable of selectively destabilising agricultural and ecological systems of entire regions." http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO201A.html.

Dr Nicholas Begich, a scientist, describes the Haarp as: "A super-powerful radio-wave-beaming technology that lifts areas of the ionosphere (upper layer of the atmosphere) by focusing a beam and heating those areas. Electromagnetic waves then bounce back onto earth and penetrate everything-living and dead." (Nicholas Begich and Jeane Manning, The military's Pandora's box, Earthpulse Press) http://www.xyz.net/~nohaarp/earthlight.html.

Dr Rosalie Bertell, an eminent scientist confirms, "US military scientists are working on weather systems as a potential weapon. The methods include the enhancing of storms and the diverting of vapour rivers in the Earth's atmosphere to produce targeted droughts or floods."(The Times, London, 23 November 2000, http://www.bariumblues.com/bertell_reveals_many_new_weapons.htm. The History Channel has also produced a 45-minute documentary on the Haarp http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4515534125267138757#

The mass flooding in Pakistan has confounded scientists. In his video report entitled, Turbo-charged monsoon confounds forecasters by Tom Clarke, Britain's Channel 4 science correspondent, states: "Normally the jet stream is a giant loop of high speed winds that whip round the upper atmosphere. But what's happening over Pakistan is even stranger. The southern arm of the jet stream has looped down so far it has crossed over the Himalayas into north western Pakistan. Experts at the Met Office tell me this is very unusual. And the result is that the fast moving jets stream winds high up has helped suck the warm, wet, monsoon air even faster and higher into the atmosphere—and that has caused rains like no one can remember. It has turbo charged the monsoon if you like. They're not sure that's ever happened: http://www.channel4.com/news/articl...stan+floods+struggle+to+reach+victims/3738877.

The Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez accused the United States of causing the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti. He asserted that the US was 'playing God' by testing devices capable of creating catastrophes. http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread537877/pg1.

Is the Haarp then, a harmless research tool—or a weapon of mass destruction far more lethal than nuclear weapons? We may never know.

[email protected]

Peddling Pseudo Science​

Why are prominent scientists spreading paranoia in Pakistan that the USA may be triggering earthquakes globally, and could also have caused the catastrophic floods in Pakistan?
PERVEZ HOODBHOY

Comstech is the Organization of Islamic Countries' highest scientific body. It has received millions of dollars from OIC countries, including Pakistan. Comstech's opulent headquarters are located on Constitution Avenue in Islamabad. It has been headed by Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman since 1996. Although its performance has been consistently mediocre, the organization has now descended to an all-time low.

Recently Dr. Rahman published an eye-popping article entitled The wondrous world of science (Dawn, 17-10-2010). The article claims that a physics research project, based in Alaska, may have been used by the United States to trigger earthquakes globally, and could also have caused the catastrophic floods in Pakistan. Dr. Rahman concludes with a chilling question: "Is the HAARP then, a harmless research tool - or a weapon of mass destruction far more lethal than nuclear weapons? We may never know."

Given Dr. Rahman's prominent place in Pakistani science, and that he is Fellow of the Royal Society, one must consider seriously his claim that HAARP can cause earthquakes and floods. But even the briefest examination makes clear his claims make no scientific sense.

HAARP stands for High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program. Its website states it is a research program run by the University of Alaska in collaboration with various US colleges and universities. If HAARP is a secret military project conceived by evil and diabolical minds, it is hard to see why visitors, including foreign nationals, are said to be allowed on site. The website says that the last open house was on July 17, 2010.

At least on the face of things, HAARP does not have the trappings of an American secret weapons facility. (Google Earth, which I used, blacks these out.) Readers will see a field of antennas, as well as some cars and two ordinary looking buildings. No security barriers are visible. This does not appear to be a classified project.

But, of course, appearances can be deceptive. So let us simply use common sense and physics. Assume therefore that the power of the transmitters is many times that declared on the website (3.6MW). This may mean HAARP could potentially disrupt radio communications during war, or blind incoming missiles. But science cannot accept Dr. Rahman's claim that "It (HAARP) may also affect plate tectonics causing earthquakes, floods through torrential rains and trigger tsunamis."

Does the good doctor believe in magic and demons? How else can massive tectonic plates be moved by radio waves? Will HAARP tickle a sleeping subterranean monster that awakes and sets off earthquakes? This kind of thinking was what irate and ignorant village mullahs used after the 2005 Pakistani earthquake. They blamed cable television, after which followers smashed thousands of television sets.

Weather change simply cannot be caused by HAARP's radio waves. The effects of a puny 3.6MW radio transmitter on the ionosphere can only be detected with sensitive instruments. Even these are almost completely washed out by a constant stream of charged particles from the sun that hit the earth during daytime. To see HAARP's effects would be like trying to see a candle a mile away in blazing sunlight.

Today, even the most powerful lasers and radios are millions of times weaker than needed to heat sizeable portions of the ionosphere. (Of course, producing hotspots in tiny volumes anywhere is not a problem, but these have zero effect on the weather or earthquakes.) Perhaps in some future century a laser might be able to do this job.

Dr. Rahman says he is uncertain if HAARP could equal a nuclear weapon or perhaps be even more destructive. But if it is actually the super-weapon that he alleges, then the laws of physics will have to be overturned. Physicists will have the sad task of unlearning all that they know and burning their useless books. With a heavy heart, I shall return all my physics degrees.

Scientists sometimes disagree - this is how scientific disputes are resolved. But it is worth asking if at least some genuine scientists support Dr. Rahman's claims. He provides no examples. Instead, he quotes President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who accused the US of causing the Haiti earthquake. While I admire Chavez for standing up to political bullying by the US, I am not sure he knows anything about plate tectonics. In fact, his claim caused seismologists to crack up with laughter.

Dr. Rahman also quotes a 1999 committee of the European Union Parliament that called for HAARP to be examined by an international independent body. I do not know if any of the committee members were scientists. But 11 years later, the EU has not called for further investigation, nor alleged that HAARP has caused natural disasters.

The good doctor enthusiastically endorses the statements of Dr. Nick Begich, one of HAARP's most vocal critics, and refers to him reverentially as a scientist. But Begich's website says that he obtained a doctorate in traditional medicine from The Open International University for Complementary Medicines in 1994. In other words Begich is not a scientist, but a homeopath who obtained a mail order degree.

Yet another quoted "authority" is the arch conspiracy theorist, Michel Chossudovsky, a retired professor of economics in Ottawa. In Dr. Rahman's pantheon of "experts", none has published a scientific paper in a reputable science journal that demonstrates a connection between ionospheric physics and any weather or subterranean phenomenon. In short, Dr. Rahman's claims about HAARP are based on pseudo-science promoted by conspiracy theorists who blame America for all grief in the world.

Once science loses its objectivity and becomes enslaved to any kind of ideology or political opinion, it becomes useless. Quack science does not just cost money. It also confuses people, engages them in bizarre conspiracy theories, and decreases society's collective ability to make sensible decisions. One must therefore seriously question whether a pseudo-science organization like Comstech deserves lavish funding from poor Pakistanis. We have better things to spend our money on. As for the world of science: it will not even notice Comstech's demise.

Pervez Hoodbhoy teaches physics at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad

 

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Islands of Hope – Life and Works of Akhter Hameed Khan​

Raza Rumi reviews a book on the life and works of Akhter Hameed Khan, a legendary development guru

"It is not enough to say that he was a great man. He was one of the great human beings of the past century. He was so much ahead of everybody else that he was seen more as a 'misfit' than appreciated for his greatness"¦" (Nobel laureate Dr. Younas Khan on Akhter Hameed Khan)

In a country where idealism has taken a backseat and opportunism and greed are rampant, this book about the life and works of Akhter Hameed Khan (AHK) can be read as a kind of counter-narrative, a perennial challenge to Pakistan's always-imminent descent into chaos. The AKH Resource Centre has done a fabulous job in putting the various trends of his thought and action into this lean volume, which is remarkable for its authentic voice and utter credibility.

Eighteen years ago I had the rare opportunity of working at the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) under the leadership of Khan Saheb's best known disciple, Mr. Shoab Sultan Khan. (AKRSP came years after experiments in community development and self-help programs such as Commila and the Orangi Pilot Project.) I was lucky enough here to meet the great AHK, if only briefly.

AHK, as he comes across in this book, was a curious mix of the Sufi visionary, the man of Gandhian principles, the subaltern researcher and a dedicated community worker. With his hybridized eclectic thought, in particular his approach to poverty and the poor, Khan Saheb was able to challenge Pakistan's mainstream development discourse, which to date remains imperial. A colonial and post-colonial state acts as mai baap to its citizens and international agencies are the patrons, defining the problems and opportunities from a knowledge base that is detached from the people it seeks to serve and which, at the end of the day, always reiterates the ascendancy of the Western historical experiences of development, progress and prosperity.

Development failures in Pakistan have therefore been manifold. For example: the IFIs have been forced to admit that two-thirds of their investment in the social sector has failed either totally or partially; or that the Social Action Programme of the 1990s, with 10 billion dollars of investment in it, led to little or no results in health, education and other basic citizen entitlements. If anything, the key indicators have worsened after a decade.

Pakistan's dilemma of growth-without-development is therefore best explained and addressed by the strategies AHK crafted from his deep connection with the people: Let the people take charge of their lives, as they know best about their needs.

This book is not just another collection of a great man's sayings. It is a testament to an age gone by – an age that prized humility, tolerance, and the making meaningful of lives. Khan Saheb belonged to the culture of Ganga Jamni tehzeeb, which evolved during a millennium of cultural evolution in India. It was already in decline during the 20th century and the Partition of 1947 completely truncated this process. AHK was a torchbearer of that (now seemingly peculiar) South Asian era: inspired by Buddha's principles and the lives and teachings of Islamic Sufis who defined the context within which people lived and understood their progress. This is why he was accepted in Comilla with open arms, in the multicultural Orangi, in central Punjab and in Pakistan's remote Northern Areas.

It should be remembered that Khan Saheb's experiential wisdom was documented and applied long before the rise of Subaltern Studies, postcolonial claptrap and even the fancy development doctrines that use the term "participatory" like a designer label.

In an essay here called "The Comilla Project", Khan reflects in a rare passage on his moorings (he was not too keen to blow his own trumpet):

"I had been a member of the Indian Civil Service where I learnt the art of imperial administration. Subsequently, I had resigned from imperial service and joined a nationalist institution where I absorbed Gandhian views of morals; a practitioner of what was then the cosmopolitan cult of community development. Besides close familiarity with the imperial, the Gandhian, and the cosmopolitan conception, I had a nodding acquaintance with the Russian and Chinese conceptions."

AKH is remembered in Bangladesh as perhaps the only positive legacy of the united Pakistan. When I worked in Bangladesh from 2006 to 2008 for an international development agency, everyone talked about him. Ministers, bureaucrats, NGOs, media persons, all would recall his contributions. Khan Saheb's emphasis on the potential of rural women has been taken forward by Bangladesh with a missionary zeal and the results are clear and tangible. Women are active in economic life, the population growth rates have rationalized and the social indicators are far better now. Comilla faced its share of problems as documented by AHK and later commentators, but large NGOs and the government carried the potential of community development forward. Agriculture extension, cooperative management and local action have changed since the Comilla experiment began.

AHK's work influenced the work in under-privileged India as well. Kappula Raju's essay The Gandhian of the Poor narrates how in the past 12 years, the poor of Andra Pradesh have transformed their lives by setting up self-managed organizations that cover more than 8 million people. Acquiring the title 'Gandhian' is not always easy for Indians and is especially rare for Pakistanis. But Saheb's stature was and will remain above our narrow limits, in line with his multiple identities.

Perhaps AHK's greatest legacy in Pakistan is the existence of rural support programmes (RSPs). Khan Saheb's ideas inspired the operations of these organizations – now 11 in number and covering millions of households from the north to the south of the country. It is also a matter of record that Khan Saheb was not keen on the scale and expansion of the rural support programs. But he also understood the massive need of the populace, given state failures, and entrusted Shoaib Sultan Khan with balancing quality and scale. Today, the RSPs are formidable partners of the government, civil society and the rural poor .

The larger question of the space for creative thinkers and practitioners in Pakistan is an important one. While the region and the world garlanded AHK with honors such as the Magsaysay award, torrents of intolerance hounded Khan Saheb in Pakistan. Fayyaz Baqir's excellent essay in this book is a key to understanding our present chaos and a valuable document for posterity.

A simple Sufi, a poet and a friend of the poor like Akhter Hameed Khan had to run in the twilight of his life from court to court and even face arbitrary arrests for false charges of blasphemy. This nefarious law inserted by the colonists and then twisted further by General Zia ul Haq's dictatorship has been a weapon in the hands of the orthodoxy, which has used it unfailingly to persecute the alternative and the innovative. (Lest it be forgotten, Pakistan has also found an apostate in its only Nobel Laureate, Dr. Abdus Salam, who was disowned by the state because of his religious beliefs and was shoddily treated even at the time of his death. We are a really unfortunate country.) In this case an interview with AHK was mangled and carried in the weekly Takbeer in 1988 and, prompted by a disgruntled employee of the OPP, led to the registration of the first blasphemy charge. But the case was filed two years after the publication of the aforementioned interview, and was clearly mala fide in nature. This case proceeded sluggishly. Saheb's opponents, who were eager to trap him, registered another case against him in 1992 in Karachi for writing an allegedly blasphemous poem for children. (It was interpreted in a regressive way by the usual reactionaries.) Baqir's essay tells us how Akhter Hameed Khan's handling of both these cases reflected a Sufi-esque inner unity of his personality. Baqir also tells us how Khan Saheb's values were rooted in the Islamic concepts of simplicity, charity and social responsibility.

We should resist the temptation now of representing AHK as an Alim and eschew the impulse to add rehmat ullah aleh to yet another great man of our history. Starting with Jinnah and Iqbal, everyone is nowadays given a tasbeeh and an orthodox outfit to go with the so-called ideology of Pakistan. But Baqir has cited primary sources such as AHK's affidavit, which must be read to get a sense of the progressive, inclusive and modern religion Islam was for some people and still can be.

These blasphemy cases eventually woke up the world, the public conscience and even (at last) the state. The case in Karachi against AHK was withdrawn on the request of the Sindh Government in December 1992. But the judge trying the case turned it down in Punjab, despite the assurance of the Prime Minister. So deep-rooted was (and is) the arrogant prejudice of state officials that even an order of the Prime Minister was disregarded for it.

Renowned writer Intizar Hussain has written how Khan Saheb's trials and tribulations constituted a "bad omen for the poets in Pakistan". Not just for poets but all creative minds, thinkers and leaders. Pakistan owes an apology to its finest citizen for treating him the way we did.

And yet, as a pucca Sufi, AHK still believed that progress was within reach. I cite a quote from this book: "If you want this country to progress you have to follow examples like Germany and Japan (after World War II). We are still in a better shape because our country is not devastated"¦ How does a community progress? It is taken forward by idealists who want to serve others"¦"

Khan Saheb's life and works transcend the realm of 'development'. They are all-encompassing – relevant for the youth of this country which has been kept away from the fire of idealism; for the thinkers of this country who need to practice intellectual honesty; and most importantly, for the endless array of leaders in the state, NGOs and media, who can learn a lesson or two from AHK's immensity, austerity and sense of purpose in life.

This book needs to be translated into regional languages and added to the curricula to replace false histories and the prejudice that permeates our lives.

Raza Rumi is a writer, editor and policy expert based in Lahore. He blogs at http://razarumi.com. Email: [email protected]

Akhter Hameed Khan (1914-1999)

Akhter Hameed Khan was born in Agra on 15 July 1914. Khan completed his intermediate education in 1930 at Agra College where he studied English literature and history. Later, he attended Meerut College and Agra University and earned a Master of Arts in English Literature in 1934. In 1936, he joined the Indian Civil Service (ICS). The Bengal famine of 1943 and the way the British government handled it disillusioned Khan; and he resigned from the ICS in 1945. After his ICS career, Khan worked as a locksmith for two years to understand the lives of the poor communities. In 1947, he joined Jamia Millia, Delhi, where he taught for three years. Khan migrated to Pakistan in 1950 and within a short while the Government asked him to assume charge as Principal of Comilla Victoria College in East Pakistan, a position he held until 1958. Between 1954 and 1955, Khan worked as director of the Village Agricultural and Industrial Development (V-AID) Programme and was disappointed with the way the communities were supported under this intervention. He attended Michigan State University during 1958-59 for training in rural development. In 1959, he set up the Pakistan Academy for Rural Development (PARDand became its founding director. In the same year, he also started the Comilla Cooperative Pilot Project. For his excellent work in Comilla, he was granted Ramon Magsaysay Award (Philippines) for rural development. In 1964, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Law by Michigan State University. Khan remained affiliated with Comilla Project until 1971 and after the creation of Bangladesh he moved to Pakistan. Khan held various teaching assignments in Pakistan before he left for Michigan State University as a visiting professor during 1973-1979. In 1980, Khan moved to Karachi and initiated the Orangi Pilot Project aimed to improve sanitation in the largest squatter settlement in Karachi. He led this project until his death in 1999. Khan also contributed to the development of the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme during the1980s. During his varied career, he authored several books and numerous articles on rural development. His literary works include collection of poems and travelogues in Urdu.

 

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Pak traders thank cash-rich Indian customers at the Trade Fair​

Pakistani textiles, spices and handicrafts have become huge hits at the 30th India International Trade Fair (IITF) in New Delhi. Pakistani traders have reported bumper sales thanks to cash-rich Indian customers. Ali Noor, a Karachi-based Pakistani businessman dealing in spices and readymade food


pastes, said, "This is my first experience at the Trade Fair. It's only three days now and the sales have been great."
The 28-year-old Noor said that Indian customers had huge amounts of disposable income and were willing to shop for quality goods.

"I get a great many number of customers every day. At this rate my stock would be over even before the fair opens for the general public. It's not just me but everyone from the textiles, spices, handicrafts and leather sectors feel the same way."

Although the fair opened Nov 14, it was opened to the general public only after four days during which time only businessmen and those with passes were allowed entry.

Noor's enthusiasm is measurable. He has sold most of his 200-plus cartons of spices and sub-continental culinary preparations he brought from Pakistan.

He said that one reason for such a response could be that the opportunity to buy Pakistani goods comes rarely because of the lack of trade between the two countries. So people stock up when a chance comes their way.

"I see people visit my stall even after they shop for masalas at other Pakistani stalls. This is because they don't get quality Pakistani goods in India. I believe the potential for trade between the two countries is enormous," Noor added.

The Pakistani contingent at the IITF, one of the biggest, includes textile firms like Laila Art, Rohhirung and Nadia's, and handicraft goods maker Warsi Impex, which have been coming to India for over a decade.

According to Mazhar ul Haq Mufti, director of the Pakistani stalls and assistant secretary to the Karachi-based Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the hunger for Pakistani goods in India was very evident.

This was the reason, he said, for the impressive customer response right from day one of the fair.

"It's fantastic. In spite of high prices of ticket in the business days, we see very good response. We know some Indian customers wait for a year and keep in touch with vendors to bring their favoured textiles and other goods to the fair," Mufti said.

Suhmita Malkhani from east Delhi said her shopping bills at the Pakistani stalls totalled about Rs.8,000, mostly for textiles and handicrafts.

"I have been here since morning and have finished my shopping budget. I bought a lot of textiles, including cloth, shawls, bed covers, sheets and salwars," she said.

Alam, a textile trader from Lahore, expressed similar sentiment, "Sales have zoomed. Indians' love for our textiles is enormous. I wish we had brought a bigger stock. We are even getting several dealership inquiries."

Alam too is on the verge of exhausting his stock. He feels it would have been much better if Pakistani and Indian traders could sell their goods all year long in both countries.

"We have finished almost everything, and the general public is only starting to come," he said.

Noor is a delighted man.

"Indians are a beautiful people. They come not just to buy but also to inquire about the state of our country with a lot concern and care. Right now Pakistan is going trough some tough times but people from both sides have a lot of love to share," Noor told said.

 

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DG, Naval Intelligence (Retd) willing to spill the beans​

The Agosta submarine deal which led to the ISI killing 11 French engineers in Karachi.
As public pressure in France mounts on President Nicolas Sarkozi to testify over alleged corruption in the sale of French submarines to Pakistan in the mid-90s, the then Director General Naval Intelligence (DGNI) of Pakistan Navy has offered help to Islamabad and Paris to book the corrupt and bring back the looted money to Pakistan.

Talking to The News, former DGNI Commodore Shahid Ashraf, who by his own account was tortured, harassed and put under illegal custody by the sleuths he once commanded and prematurely retired from the service "for knowing too much about the commission mafia in defence forces", said that he was willing to cooperate with the Pakistani as well as French authorities. "I have a lot to share with them about the kickbacks in the Agosta submarine deal," he insisted.

Ashraf, in a recent interview with this newspaper, disclosed certain details of the Agosta submarine deal and revealed while the deal had led to the removal of the then Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) Admiral Mansurul Haq and the framing of a corruption reference against Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari but those mighty and powerful in the navy, who made millions of dollars from the deal, were never held accountable. The cover-up in the submarine deal, according to the former DGNI, was meant to save the skin of many in the Pakistan Navy.
To force his silence, he said, he was maliciously charged for getting Rs1.5 million from a naval officer, who was alleged to have got illegal gratification and kickbacks from foreign suppliers of the naval vessels, etc., but was 'interestingly' made an approver against the DGNI. On the contrary, a list of naval officers, who were alleged to have received kickbacks, were never touched. Instead, they were promoted as rear admirals.

It is pertinent to point out that a Feb 17, 1995 letter, issued by SOFMA (the French company that was involved in the Agosta deal), talked of making payment of $40,000 to each of the four naval officers whose names were mentioned in the same letter. Instead of probing the four officers, however, each one of them was later elevated as a rear admiral while the DGNI was taken to task for alleged corruption of Rs1.5 million. Interestingly, he was alleged to have received this money from a naval officer, who was getting money from foreign suppliers of the defence deals. As being the DGNI, he had even sought permission of his high command to catch an agent, who was giving bribe money to naval officers but was not allowed to do so.

Besides the then DGNI, the former naval chief Admiral Abdul Aziz Mirza has recently also given credence to the French investigative report that talked of almost $49 million kickbacks in the Agosta-submarine deal allegedly received by President Asif Ali Zardari and others, including the naval officers.

Recently, in an interview with The News, Aziz Mirza had also disclosed that the then Benazir government had urged the Pakistan Navy to go for the French subs. Mirza, while quoting the then Naval Chief Admiral Saeed Khan, had revealed that Benazir Bhutto's Defence Minister Aftab Shabaan Mirani had clearly indicated to the Pakistan Navy's high command the Benazir's government's preference for the induction of the French submarines.

Despite these clear verbal directions from the defence minister, the naval top command, according to Mirza, had again met and deliberated upon the subject and decided to recommend two options to the government namely the British Upholder and the French Agosta. The government later approved the induction of Agosta. Mirza, who led the Pakistan Navy from Oct 1999 to Oct 2002, said that the Navy first formally came to know about the kickbacks in the Agosta deal in 1998 following which it had proceeded against three officials of the ranks of captain and commodore for taking bribes and they were removed from service.
"My hunch is that besides the politicians, some top ranking naval officers even above the rank of commodore might have also received kickbacks as reflected in the recent French media reports, however, they (the top Naval officials) remained undetected for want of proof or witnesses," Mirza was quoted to have said, claiming that even the condemned former naval chief Masoor Ul Haq was not convicted of Agosta kickbacks but for the bribes that he had pocketed in the other defence deals.

 

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Pakistan's rural Iron Curtain​

Saturday, November 20, 2010
Roedad Khan
Talking about social justice and equality in the Pakistan of his dream, Mr Jinnah said in a speech delivered in April 1943: "Here, I would like to give a warning to the landlords and capitalists. The exploitation of the masses has gone into their blood. They have forgotten the lesson of Islam. Do you visualise that millions have been exploited and cannot get one meal a day? If this is the idea of Pakistan, I would not have it."
On the night of Aug 4, 1789, soon after the outbreak of the French Revolution, the National Assembly voted the abolition of feudalism in France. The advantages that came with such a radical reform soon spread to the whole of Europe. Today, over the great part of the world, the occupiers of agricultural land are the owners of it: peasant proprietorship is predominant. Not in Pakistan.
It is ironic that it was only after the military takeover in 1958 and the coming to power of an authoritarian government that a Land Reforms Commission was appointed "to consider problems relating to the ownership and tenancy of agricultural land and to recommend measures for ensuring better production and social justice, as well as security of tenure for those engaged in cultivation."
The commission submitted its report, which was drafted by Ghulam Ishaq Khan, the future president, to President Ayub Khan, who was also the chief martial law administrator. The commission saw its task as analysing "the peculiar social, economic and political consequences following from what amounts to an institutional monopoly of land in a primarily agrarian society." It duly emphasised that those who do not own land are relegated to a socially inferior position, with all the disabilities of that position.
The commission did not aim at breaking the power of the "old ruling oligarchy with its roots in big estates." The commission took what it called a "pragmatic" and "middle-of-the-road" position on the question of imposing a ceiling on the private ownership of land, and it hoped that the implementation of its recommendations would lead to "the creation of a strong middle class" and to laying "the foundation for owner-operated farms on holdings of economic size."
There was a serious division of opinion between Mr Ghulam Ishaq Khan and the other members of the commission on the crucial question of specifying a ceiling on land holdings. In his dissenting views about the fixation of ceiling on land, Ghulam Ishaq Khan noted that "the control of economic opportunity, in the form of concentration of landed wealth in the hands of the relatively few, to the exclusion of the great majority dependent on it for a living, in turn divides the society into economically and socially inferior strata of haves and have-nots."
As a result of such a socially divisive concentration of land in a few hands, social progress is hampered and the society remains indefinitely stratified. Hence, he thought that the objectives of economic progress and social justice could be best achieved by fixing the ceiling on land held by individuals and families at a sufficiently low level. He opposed the "much too liberal" ceiling and the allowances and exemptions recommended by the majority of the commission members, because he thought that the net effect of the proposed measures for a long time to come will be to leave unchanged the concentration of land in families, instead of individuals.
Hence, in line with the recommendations of the Muslim League Committee and the First Five-Year Plan, he proposed a maximum limit of 150 acres of irrigated land, or 450 acres of un-irrigated land. Even more important, he also recommended, for the first time in Pakistan, that a limit should be set on land owned by the family: 350 irrigated acres or 900 un-irrigated acres. According to him, the lower ceilings he proposed for the individual and family was necessary to break the monopolies on land and to make access to opportunity through land more free, to ensure greater social justice and economic growth.
Mr Ghulam Ishaq Khan also dissented from the views of the majority on the issue of exempting orchards from the prescribed ceiling, because "exemption of orchards from the operation of ceiling will mean a further addition to the already liberal exemptions given to the existing landowners." He argued that, in the first place, orchards were highly profitable ventures and were not an especially risky investment. In addition, he argued, the exemption of orchards from the ceiling would add to the corrupt practices of unscrupulous owners and petty revenue officials of converting ordinary agricultural land into orchards retrospectively. He insisted, therefore, that the area under orchards should be taken into account for the purposes of the fixation of ceilings on par with other agricultural land of the same class included in the owner's holdings.
Mr Ghulam Ishaq Khan also opposed the majority's recommendation about the transfer of land by gift to any or all of the presumptive heirs, on the ground that it would lead to the concentration of land in families, in spite of the ceiling. He saw no justification for such a recommendation, because large owners have already distributed their property among as many real or imaginary presumptive heirs as they could trust to hold the land for them. Therefore, he warned that the ceiling of land would also amount to an expansion of the generous ceiling already allowed on other counts and would defeat the fundamental purpose of land reforms.
The commission estimated that if Ghulam Ishaq Khan's views prevailed, about six million acres would be available for resumption from holdings of 500 acres and above. The jagirs (freeholds) and farms between 100 and 500 acres would have added another two million acres, raising the extent of the resumable area to eight million acres, as against the 2.5 million acres actually resumed under the 1959 land reforms! The resumed area of this magnitude would have correspondingly benefited nearly 800,000 peasants, assuming a 10-acre size of the redistributed holding.
The dissenting view of Ghulam Ishaq Khan did not persuade the majority of the commission members: they thought that "the premise from which Mr Ishaq proceeds does not correctly depict the conditions obtaining in West Pakistan." A heated debate followed. When the matter came before the cabinet, Mr Zulfikar Ali Bhutto defended the landlords' case with great passion and almost broke down. In order to ease the tension, President Ayub had to interrupt the discussion and order drinks to be served.
When the PPP government came into power, it prescribed a ceiling of 150 acres of irrigated land and 300 acres of un-irrigated land, or an area equal to 15,000 PIUs. A total of 1.3 million acres were resumed, of which only 900,000 acres were redistributed to various tenurial classes. The number of the beneficiaries did not exceed 76,000. By the autumn of 1976, it had become apparent that the government's reforms measures did not produce the expected results.
To remedy the situation, the government promulgated another land reform ordinance (Ordinance II of 1977), with three new significant features. It reduced the ceiling to 100 acres of irrigated land and allowed compensation to landowners in the form of bonds. It made provision for distribution of resumed land among landless tenants and small landowners without charge or payment. But the military government which took over power on July 5, 1977, amended the 1977 act in 1982 to exempt corporate livestock farms from individual ceilings. An additional area of 1.8 million acres was resumed under the 1977 act, of which, 900,000 acres were distributed among 13,143, persons.
The piecemeal reforms introduced by Ayub and Bhutto have bolstered the political, social and economic position of the rural upper strata on which their governments depended for political support. Not only has the political influence of this group increased but its interest in the perpetuation of the status quo has been considerably enhanced. In combination with other powerful forces in the military and civil bureaucracy, it exerts a strong pressure for conservatism in regard to the agrarian structure.
Piecemeal reforms have thus dimmed the prospects for radical reforms in agriculture, despite the deterioration in the status of the weaker members of the rural hierarchy and the rapid increase in their numbers, both absolutely and relatively. Measures that would deprive the upper strata in the villages of land and power, and would genuinely confer dignity and status on the underprivileged and the landless, are among the last that the landed aristocracy would find acceptable.
Banana republics are notorious for their inequality. In some of these plutocracies, the richest one per cent of the population gobbles up 20 per cent of the national pie. We Pakistanis don't have to travel to banana republics to observe such rapacious inequality. We have it right here in our country. We have reached a banana-republic point where our inequality has become both economically unhealthy and morally repugnant.
A great divide, a yawning chasm – some call it a new Iron Curtain – separates the rich from their less fortunate countrymen, whose life is "nasty, brutish and short." Because these people have bank accounts, luxurious villas, mansions, and apartments in the West, they can easily escape from Pakistan's misery. They have a stake in the status quo or the system, as they call it, and therefore impede the birth of a new order in rural Pakistan.
In the West, democracy destroyed the feudal system and vanquished kings. In stark contrast, Pakistan's fake democracy protects and perpetuates this unjust, outdated and obsolete system. They very idea of progressive agrarian reforms is abhorrent to the rubberstamp parliament and the cabal that rules this poor country. Since it is degenerate to the very bones, nauseatingly corrupt, we must extirpate this system, root and branch. One thing is certain. For anything to change in this country, everything has to change.