PIA can be turned around: Zubair Ahmed Malik

Shutting down national flag carrier shouldn’t be an option

Bailout packages sans solid revival strategy waste of taxpayers’ money

Dated: Sept 12

The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Thursday said Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is an asset, country’s pride and its flag carrier which shouldn’t be closed down under any circumstances.

Many leading airlines are offspring of the PIA, once placed amongst the top ten airliners of the world, it is now wasting around Rs3 billion per month which cannot be accepted, said President FPCCI Malik Zubair Ahmed.

Expressing concern over proposal to shut down PIA, he said that this is not the solution, bringing it back to profit needs simple steps like containing overstaffing, corruption, favouritism, political interference, mismanagement and introducing proper accountability system.

The FPCCI chief said that a professional management can swing PIA to profit by reopening profitable routes, grabbing the revenue worth Rs60 billion taken away by competitors, and luring millions of expats through improved service and cutting costs creeping beyond global industry standards.

PIA can also focus on downsizing and paying attention to the domestic market from where it gets half of its revenues, he added.

Zubair Ahmed Malik said that providing bailout packages without a solid revival plan amounts to wasting taxpayers’ money in an airline whose fuel cost has touched undesirable limit of 55 per cent of the revenue against 25-30 per cent accepted limits.

With 20 thousand employees, we have world’s most surplus employee-to aircraft-ratio standing at 570 against 120 which is a reason behind crumbling institution providing travel facilities to five million people annually. Increasing the number of aircraft can balance the ratio if reducing staff isn’t an option at this point.

PIA balance sheet for the year ended in Dec 31, 2012 shows after tax loss at Rs32 billion, up from Rs27 billion loss the earlier year. Its net revenue declined to Rs125 billion 2012, from Rs127 billion in 2011 while management cost surged by Rs1 billion because of the management hired on political considerations.

Locally-operated private airlines which are dependent on PIA for their maintenance are making profit while PIA with good infrastructure is losing money at an unprecedented rate which is amazing, he observed.

The government should go ahead with the reforms or induct honest businessmen on airline’s board to make it profitable, he said, adding that selling it through transparent process will work but closing it down in not appropriate, said Zubair.

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How WTO kills farmers

How WTO kills farmers

by Najma Sadeque

Ten years ago yesterday (September 10, 2003) Lee Kyung-Hae, a well-educated, once highly-successful South Korean farmer -- marched with 15,000 other farmers and indigenous people from around the world at the 5th WTO Ministerial at Cancun, Mexico, demanding the exclusion of agriculture from WTO. He carried a board declaring “WTO kills farmers”.

At the police barricade separating the conference venue from the public, he publicly committed suicide -- according to spot rumour. But did he really? It was highly unlikely as his daughter was getting married shortly; he hardly wanted to make her unhappy, especially since his wife died a decade earlier. In the crowd, nobody actually saw him stabbing himself, but as he climbed down from atop the barricade, a film camera captured another pair of hands, and the right hand is seen stabbing him in the heart. – It looked more like murder. 

Significantly, the mainstream media ignored it, and his death was officially ruled as suicide. -- WTO could not stomach a murder in its name. He died a few hours later in surgery, only 56 years old. His banner -- "WTO Kills Farmers” – turned out self-fulfilling.

Lee came from a wealthy family of landowners and rice traders. But while his siblings went into profitable urban businesses, he went to Seoul agricultural university to become a professional farmer, something few graduates did in those days. He loved the land and always dreamed of reviving his depressed farming hometown of 30,000 farm families, where the mountainous terrain was tough.

His dairy and vegetable farm was so successful, he turned his 70-acre farm into a teaching college to enable live-in students obtain hands-on experience not available in cities. With WTO looming, he turned activist and was elected to various farmers and agricultural associations. Throughout the 1980s he worked for farmers and fisherfolk rights nationwide. In 1989, he received FAO’s award for ‘Farmer of the Year’. In the 1990s, he politicized farmers’ struggles, started a social activist magazine for farmers and was elected three times over to the provincial legislature. Lee led some thirty protests and hunger strikes against WTO. 

The 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), drawn up by USA, which became the crippling WTO agreement in 1995, can be defined as a forcibly continued legitimization of all the liberties the former colonizers took with former colonies. – To enter where they wanted, taking whatever they wanted, on their own terms. That included whether other countries wanted or needed their products or not, whether their investments undermined local production and livelihoods or not, whether they destroyed economies or not.

For whatever reasons – pressure or false promises of wealth -- most governments sold out on sovereignty and the public interest.

When the WTO formally came into being despite global farmer and labour protests – except in sleepy Pakistan -- Lee and his fellow farmers realized their destinies were lost. They could only watch helplessly as rural communities were destroyed. 

In a final interview, Lee noted that increased productivity simply added to an over-supplied market that now included imported goods, cheaper than the local, so they couldn’t cover their own production costs, let alone compete. “How would you feel,” he asked, “if your salary suddenly dropped to half without understanding the reason?” Pakistanis may recall the consequences when Chinese goods flooded our markets.

What is it about WTO agricultural rules that earned the ire of rural peoples globally, spawning the millions-strong Via Campesina and other farmer movements everywhere? Contrary to widespread belief, WTO was a corporate initiative – all private sector and all-American -- not of governments. 

Throughout the history of the world, it has always been a given that because we have to eat to live, access to nature from which alone food is obtained, was everyone’s fundamental right. Kings and other rulers always protected their country’s agriculture, taken responsibility for maintaining infrastructure, waived debts during natural disasters causing crop failure. After all, non-farming cities and production demand continuous supply; nor could armies fight on an empty stomach. 

The productivity and continuity of nature depends on many factors working complementarily and inseparably together as a unit – the soil, water, air, climate, highly diverse vegetation, wildlife and micro-organisms, so that the concept of community lands – the Commons – was upheld for common purposes such as grazing, and among indigenous peoples that rejected private property. Monopolies, especially of lands, forests and water bodies, which deprived large numbers, were frowned upon.

WTO turned all that around on its head. Its underlying premise is that food should be treated like any other good or commodity, to be bought and sold at will, not an intrinsic right. It should be subject to globalization and market forces as are machinery, cars and thousands of other consumer items. No protectionism for food security. Why? -- Essentially because the Americans say so. Today food is no longer a right any more than the means of obtaining it. No equal rights and opportunities. Double standards too: USA and Europe may subsidize, developing countries may not. Never mind sovereignty; some countries have even bent their constitutions. 

Today’s urbanites and governments forget that farming is not only self-employment, it is also a chosen way of life for many, educated or not. Countless people want control over their own lives that it enables, reject the stress of endless competition and materialism, and seek the slower pace, peace and introspection of country life. WTO has killed the right and access to such choice. 

When the Korean government opened the market to imports of Australian cows, it encouraged farmers to take loans to expand their stocks. They ended up selling dozens of cows every month to make interest payments. Finally beef prices simply collapsed. Lee had expanded his herd of 70 to 300 with loans, which lost value. When he had no more cattle left to sell, the banks repossessed his land. For the first time, his family saw him weep. He and others were doing perfectly well …. until WTO bulldozed in.

There are thousands, millions, of such instances of once-prosperous lives and local economies ruined by WTO, ignored by the mainstream media. To this day, we still don’t know who in his warped wisdom, signed the 1000-odd page WTO agreement on Pakistan’s behalf, without public information or parliamentary debate, sneaked in just as structural adjustment was. 

Agriculture is just one of many areas that WTO preys on. Most people remain ignorant of its fine print. They only know its taken away our economic sovereignty and handed it over to global multinational corporations and food-speculating banksters.

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Business community fears economic contraction after IMF deal

Attaining growth within IMF limits biggest test for Govt: FPCCI

Govt may not be able to accomplish economic objectives: Zubair Ahmed Malik

Dated: Sept 11

The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Wednesday said using IMF loan responsibly and ensuring growth within the parameters of lender’s harsh conditions is to be one of the biggest test of the government’s ability.

IMF policies are widely blamed for chocking growth making life difficult for masses and the private sector while the PML-N is known for its pro-investment and pro-business policies, said Zubair Ahmed Malik, President FPCCI.

This obvious contradiction will make it very difficult for the government to ensure growth keeping lender happy and without compromising the falling living standards of masses, he added.

Speaking to the business community, Zubair Ahmed Malik said that majority of the population is already living below the poverty line reeling under rising inflation while businesses are finding it difficult to sustain.

“We see ahead an era of further depreciation in exchange rate, monetary contraction, massive unemployment, dwindling exports, reduced forex reserves, missed revenue targets, double digit inflation and rising cost of production,” he added.

He said that gas levy estimated at Rs105 billion, 30 to 50 per cent increase in power tariff and 30 per cent escalation in domestic power price from next month could result in increased energy theft and decelerated power sector recoveries.

Business community doubts accomplishment of the Government’s stated objectives like pushing growth rate to six per cent in five years, fiscal deficit at 4 per cent, tax to GDP ratio at 15 per cent, investment to GDP ratio at 20 per cent, and generation of 10,000MW of electricity.

Similarly, the FPCCI chief said, increase in food production and expenditure on education by 4 per cent each, pushing literacy rate to 80 per cent, 2 per cent hike in health sector spending, and creation of three million jobs seems difficult tasks. 

He noted that deadly combination of growing fiscal deficit and unsustainable trade deficit should be tacked to ensure sustainability.

Zubair Ahmed Malik said that solid and bold policy action is lacking which can tackle terrorism and sectarianism and improve socio-economic and political situation of the country which will help reform the economic fundamentals ensuring a bright future for generations to come.

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Exploring hunger and malnutrition solutions in Pakistan

Exploring hunger and malnutrition solutions in Pakistan

By Tahir Hasnain

Since the advent of industrialization and globalization, the importance of food for the survival of the human race has increased manifold as the food has now become a most precious commodity. A country is food secure where the food demand and supply are balanced in a way that food is affordable and accessible to all and it satisfies people’s basic right to food. The food insecurity refers to consistent inaccessibility of food due to lack of money and other resources. A household is considered food-insecure when its residents are malnourished and live in hunger or fear of starvation.

Malnutrition or malnourishment is a broad term which refers to eating a diet in which certain nutrients are lacking or in excess or in the wrong proportions. According to the World Health Organization, hunger and related malnutrition are the greatest single threat to the world's public health.[2] Women, children, and the elderly suffer more from malnutrition. Women are vulnerable because during pregnancies and breastfeeding, women have additional nutrient requirements.

About 52 percent of Pakistanis do not have access to adequate food and many of them (especially women and children) suffer from hunger and malnutrition. This was stated in a national consultative meeting of AAHM Pakistan (National Chapter of Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition) in Islamabad while discussing “Policy Perspective of Hunger and Malnutrition Situation in Pakistan”. The event was organized by the SCOPE (Society for Conservation and Protection of Environment) which is currently hosting the Secretariat of AAHM Pakistan. Participants across the country from NGOs, Government, UN agencies, Media and Academia discoursed to explore hunger and malnutrition solutions in Pakistan.

Pakistan has been facing food security challenge since a decade but the country right now is passing through a critical situation in this regard. It appears that food accessibility is currently a serious issue and the Government’s food monitoring, pricing and distribution system is not satisfactory. On the top, food has remained a subject of politics. As a consequence, surplus food remains available in one part of the country but poor people are allowed to die of hunger at other part at the same time. Sometimes food is also perished and wasted in storehouses. Likewise, it has also been reported again and again in the media that a bulk of food was exported by the government or private sector despite food insecurity prevailing in the country. Food is then also imported on public pressure which is often expensive and sometimes not fitting to the local needs re quality and the taste.

Provision of safe food to its masses is the responsibility of state and hence, the Federal Government must steer the provinces to deal with food and nutrition issues in a well-planned and coordinated way. Government has to review its agricultural research & extension services; and the food procurement & support price policies in favor of general masses. Government must regulate food sector through strict laws and make sure that no more smuggling of food items or illegal food imports are allowed.

While gaps in food accessibility and its governance are quite visible, we however cannot ignore the quantity of food being produced and its quality. The way the country’s population is growing up, food production is lagging far behind due to many factors; some of them are:

1. The crucial role of women in agriculture and food management has been ignored over-time. Traditionally, women have been the main player in growing and acquiring food and managing food of the household level. Modern agriculture technologies, cash crops, monoculture and use of heaving machinery have restricted the role of women in agriculture and since then the hunger and malnutrition issues begin to increase.

2. In equality in the society is also a cause of hunger and malnutrition. Food injustice at the household level should also be considered and addressed because usually the women and children remain malnourished.

3. Production and availability of diverse food crops is important for balanced nutrition and to reduce hunger; but the Government has so far been focusing on few food crops only i.e. wheat and rice.

4. Urban dwellers as well as rural people have been producing food domestically. This activity has now been abandoned in cities and minimized to large extent in rural areas which has led to food insecurity across the country.

5. Cultivable land is on decrease due to alarming rate of urbanization. New housing colonies are being developed on fertile urban-periphery lands that were traditionally being cultivated to provide fresh food to the urban dwellers.

6. Due to extraordinary cost of production, small farmers are walking out of the agriculture activity and migrating to urban areas. Local feudal landlords are purchasing their lands resulting into land concentration, especially in Sindh and South Punjab. Small farmers have been very important as they were traditionally involved in food production as compared to large farmers who tend to grow market driven cash crops only.

7. Feudal landlords usually lease-out their lands to contract or corporate farmers and the agri-investors usually invest money on non-food cash crops i.e. cotton, sugarcane, tobacco, kinoo, oil seeds, grass, etc. leading to food shortages and malnutrition in the country.

8. Practice of traditional “lungar” and “khairaat” has also been a source of food for marginalized people in our society. The practice however is declining over-time due to economic crisis at the local level and this is also contributing to hunger and malnourishment among poor people.

9. Food storage caused by the hoarders is also a source of food shortages and price hike at times. Government must regulate the situation and control fake food shortages and price hike in the market.

10. Quality of food has already been deteriorated due to chemical intensive farming (use of pesticides/fertilizers). Modern agricultural technologies have affected the aroma, taste and the culture of food. Food contaminated with agro-chemicals have had a severe health impacts including cancer, high BP, asthma, skin problems, reproductive health complications, eye infections, headache, etc.

11. Modern agricultural practices have also eliminated local food varieties and the uncultivated food plants. Earlier, the communities have commonly been using uncultivated food plants as part of their routine diet that were nutritious and a free gift from the nature. Consequently, we are now deprived of this free or very cheap source of food and nutrition.

12. Food consumption behavior has also been corrupted and the people now waste enormous food. If food distribution system and the patterns of food consumption in our society are somehow rationalized, there is enough food already being produced and available all over the world.

13. Land Grab and the corporate farming policy is being followed since the Musfaraf’s regime which is feared to aggravate the food security situation in the country in future. Gulf countries have allegedly acquired large farms i.e. in Matiary, Thatta, Nawabshah and Mirpurkhas districts of Sindh where they grow non-food crops for export purposes. The same lands were previously cultivated to produce food crops.

Recommendations:

Eliminating hunger and malnutrition cannot be done by the governments alone; this must involve coordinated actions by the civil society. The civil society organizations (CSOs) should find innovative ideas to tackle with this menace with or without the help of Government. CSOs could focus their advocacy on Right to Food issue that should cover: respect for right to food; fulfillment of right to food; protection of right to food; and promotion of right to food.

Food consumers generally lack food and nutrition information in Pakistan. It is recommended that Food & Nutrition must be incorporated in Primary and High school syllabus as a compulsory subject and media should also prioritize this issue for awareness of masses across country. 

In order to tackle the issue of hunger and malnutrition, women have to be mobilized as they can potentially play great role in producing food domestically and to sustain food security at the household level.

Climate change is now contributing to uncertain food production and lower food quality. Planning and adaptations must be done accordingly to maintain the food production levels and resilience has to be built among communities to cope with climate change impacts. Alternate food safety mechanisms are needed in the country to increase community-resilience towards food insecurity and climate change challenges.

Efficient families are always food secure; currently the economic pressures on families are also resulting into food insecurity. Livelihood diversity and capacity building of the rural/urban communities to produce food domestically and in processing/preservation of food is important to cope with food shortages and malnutrition at times.

Early warning system must be adopted to save people from climate change impacts and it should have proper policy support. Mobile SMS service should be used for early warning system and to provide other agriculture related guiding messages to farmers and the local community.

International trade agreements are affecting food sovereignty of the country as the free market now determines prices as well as demand/supply (import/export) system. Pakistan has to be very proactive in all such international trade negotiations to avoid any compromise on country’s food sovereignty.

Pakistan is bestowed with diverse topography and ecological zones. Hence, each region must be dealt separately; the local needs, strengths and opportunities might also be different.

Agroforestry is a useful activity from environment point of view. It is recommended that diverse fruit tree should be incorporated in the agroforestry model and fruit trees should be planted on farm sides, canal banks and inside homes so that deprived community members could also have access to locally available fresh fruits.

The way the India has recently passed “Food Security Bill” in the parliament; Pakistan should also follow this so that food security of most vulnerable members of the society is protected.

The multi-national agri-corporations such as Monsanto are now trying to acquire licenses to produce genetically modified food which might upset health of consumers and pollute the physical environment. GM foods are already banned or restricted in many countries. Organic food is however the best and sustainable option available that needs heterogeneous ecological farming.

Research has so far been based on preset approach or the international models. Indigenous and participatory research is strongly recommended in order to find the gaps in local food demand/supply and the government policies at all levels. Advocacy by CSOs therefore be aimed at bridging gaps in policies and practices in the country to be more effective and result oriented.

The civil society forums such as AAHM Pakistan should prioritize one or few most burning food related issues in a year and devise year-wise action plan. CSOs must involve existing research institutions for research and they themselves should be focusing on community awareness, mobilizations and the advocacy.

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Pakistan Civil Society Forum is launched

Pakistan Civil Society Forum is launched

Islamabad Resolution 

by National Consultation of Civil Society Organizations

ISLAMABAD: A representative forum of civil society organisations from across Pakistan met today in Islamabad to discuss ways for effective engagement with federal and, provincial governments and state institutions, civil society and concerned citizens for strengthening a representative democracy, citizenship, and social and economic justice through coordinated and focused lobbying and actions. 

The national consultation held at the Aurat Foundation’s office was convened by South-Asia Partnership- Pakistan and participated by leading civil society organizations endorsed the following resolution :

We RECOGNIZE the significance and importance of this assembly in the back drop of present scenario where the country is faced with serious problems of bad governance including terrorism, lawlessness, rising poverty, energy crisis and other economic challenges. We also note with pleasure the smooth transition of power from one elected government to the other. However, we consider it important to stress on the newly elected government to take the democratic traditions forward and address to the urgent and important issues of public ensuring people centered governance.

We BELIEVE that neither the country’s development nor its policy making adequately involves public participation. As a result of the top down development, the implementation gaps notwithstanding, issues of ownership, ecology, access to resources stand majorly compromised. We emphasise that planning and development must be a bottom-up approach and the state must make an effort to make people’s involvement in their own development and future possible.

We NOTE with concern a gradual indiscernible reversal of devolution through the Constitutional Reforms (18th Amendment) that will deprive the people of Pakistan of a landmark gain through a democratic process. Ambiguities in the responsibilities and authorities of the federal and provincial institutions demand clarity and reconstitution of roles. We believe the constitution and 18th Amendment must be considered as guiding principles to determine the role of the federal government and provincial governments. Federal government’s obsession with trespassing into provinces’ domain will have far reaching ramifications. This approach has intensified a deep rooted distrust among federating units and must be refrained forthwith. There is a need to take devolution process from provinces to district level with substantive institutional reforms and genuine representation of the public.

We are also TROUBLED with issues of gender discrimination, growing intolerance against non-Muslims and the rising trends of ethnic and sectarian violence all over the country.

We are HUMBLED with the contribution and gains of civil society organizations in upholding citizens’ rights, relentless struggle for fundamental freedoms, free judiciary and democratic development. This assembly concludes with this resolve to continue its struggle for further deepening democratic processes and traditions through coordinated and focused actions among diverse civil society groups and institutions.

We RESOLVE forming the Pakistan Civil Society Forum as a joint platform of action, coordination and engagement with government, national and international institutions. We believe this platform will be instrumental in promoting joint actions for citizens’ rights and bridge the gap between government and people, advocate issues of fundamental importance to people and reemphasize important issues in the national agenda. 

THE Forum REAFFIRMS its commitment for continuing its struggle for citizens’ rights and democratic, human and social development in the country.

We REASSURE our constituents to become a viable and effective platform for coordination, collective actions, lobbying and engagement with diverse actors including political parties, federal and provincial governments, media, national and international institutions.

A national level core committee has been formed comprising representatives of all federating units and rights-based organizations. The committee will engage other CSOs, public representatives, state institutions and concerned citizens for further diversifying its support base.

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Radicalisation sans borders

Radicalisation sans borders 

By: Naseer Memon (The News, Political Economy section: 1st Sept 2013)

If anything that has gripped the whole world with alarming intensity, it is nothing but a rapid rise of radicalisation. It is no more confined to Islamic countries of Asia, Africa and Middle East. The so-called free world is emerging as a hotbed of radicalisation.

The post-9/11 war against terrorism has in fact provided it a new impetus and the world has witnessed a far more violent form of radicalisation in the recent years. It would be unrealistic to trace the genesis of this phenomenon in a single incident. In fact, an assortment of complex historical and socio-political factors has shaped and nurtured the current wave.

In its current form, radicalisation is no more a localised issue of tribal areas of Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. Although these areas are believed to be epicenters of Islamic radicalisation, Europe and the US cannot be fully absolved of their role, specially in the context of Pakistan that was chosen as a surrogate battlefield for their wars in Afghanistan.

The US and its allies even circumvented their much avowed affection for democracy and human rights by underpinning unconstitutional military regimes in Pakistan during 80s and 2000. Their myopic and strayed foreign policy has actually done a disservice and culminated in a global whirlpool of extremism. The US and Europe are now facing a serious internal challenge of containing extremism in their own countries. Thickly populated Muslim cities and neighborhoods in these countries engendered various forms of extremism that occasionally erupt into violent incidents.

Dream city of London can be a pertinent example to cite. Visiting the salubrious city as a tourist is a feast but peeping into lives of Pakistani community dampens the verve of recreation. Pakistani immigrants’ neighbourhoods paint a grim picture, where one finds all reasons of consternation. Retrogressive social milieu prevails even after decades when first generation of Pakistanis arrived here. During those heydays, Pakistani community earned respect for their hard work and amity.

Pakistani students were known for their stellar performance. Gone are those old good days and almost everything has degenerated. Pakistanis are now besmirched and stigmatised with social and political ills. Youth delinquency has surged, religious extremism has skyrocketed, women fenced in four walls, education attainment on rock bottom and social integration is unraveling at alarming pace. Seminaries are multiplying and formal schooling is being eclipsed by substandard teachings. A generation is growing in social seclusion of Pakistani and Muslim enclaves where identity crisis looms with all perils. Equally appalling is the situation in other cities like Bradford, Manchester etc.

France has the highest Muslim population among European countries, where some six million Muslims are living, mostly with North African origin. Social indicators of French Muslim are believed to be a major cause of disgruntlement. From education to employment, Muslims are disadvantaged. As a consequence, Muslim identity is proliferating with an alarming vengeance.

The post-9/11 developments have globally demarcated new borders between Muslims and the rest. Uncanny strategic shift of super powers between 1979 and 2001 wars triggered ideological tremors. The jihad espoused by the US and West coddled during the cold war era and patronised more vehemently in 80s refused to wilt with the demise of socialist Soviet Union.

As Allies failed to produce one right out of two wrongs, extremism found new legitimacy among the faithful in the wake of post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even second and third generation of European and American Muslims obviously could not remain insulated from the tide. Gradually a piqued Muslim identity started obscuring other domains of social fabric in these countries. Organic process of assimilation rapidly reversed over the years and now vanishing with the speed of light.

A survey of British Muslims conducted in October 2006 found that 82 per cent of respondents believed that the British Muslims have become more politically radicalised and 81 per cent believe the war on terror is really a war on Islam. Several other surveys confirm a similar trend among British Muslims. An abominable carnage of 7/7 that claimed more than 50 lives sent shockwaves throughout the Europe that did not fully recover from the nightmare of 9/11. The gruesome incident proved that security shields alone can’t clamp religiosity and the Britain is infested with radicals whose machinations could outsmart its fastidious systems.

Radicalisation among Muslim youth is not confined to Britain only; it has straddled across other European countries. According to a recent report of the International Herald Tribune, a large number of young Muslims with Western passport are sneaking into Syria to reinforce rebel crusaders who have waged a war against the government of Bashar al Assad. Some European and American Intelligence officials claim that more Westerners are fighting in Syria than have fought in Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen. Various sources estimate that the number of fighters from Europe, North America and Australia fighting in Syria is more than 600. French Interior Minister Manuel Valls termed it a “ticking bomb”.

The phenomenon of radicalisation in Europe is not so simple and does not have single complexion or a linear trajectory. A research report “Radicalisation of Muslim Immigrants in Europe and Russia: Beyond Terrorism” (PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo No. 29) challenges the notion that radicalisation is merely an outcome of social disintegration among various ethnic communities in Europe. In fact it implicitly berates the approach and quotes examples where well-integrated second and third generation citizens were found involved in terrorist acts.

The report postulates that the issue is intertwined with global political panorama. The report reads “while some of their own socio-cultural experiences may prepare them to advance what they believe is the cause of fellow Muslims suffering around the world, violent Islamists frame their actions in a quasi-religious, politicised, and almost “neo-anti-imperialist” discourse of global confrontation with the West, shaped and visualised, above all, by what they see happening daily in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan.”

These factors are creating a new gulf among Muslims and other communities, which leads towards a precarious disintegration and friction. A radical Muslim identity is snowballing with every passing day and Nato’s exit from Afghanistan in 2014 would inculcate a sense of triumph and bestow it with a new pinnacle.

Islamic extremism is also breading a reciprocating anti-Muslim extremism. According to surveys, perceptions about Muslims among non-Muslims have grown. In 2008, 52 per cent in Spain 50 per cent in Germany, 38 per cent in France and 23 per cent in the UK felt negative about Muslims, considering them a threat to Western civilization.

Vagaries of the US and European foreign policy have resulted in this unmanageable global chaos. For decades, religiosity was eulogized as a bulwark against communism. Muslim countries were made a dumping ground of religious obscurantist elements, without realising that it will not remain in endless hibernation. It resurrected with ferocity of inconceivable proportions and now refuses to recoil.

In a globalized world, it is impossible to preclude tenacity of such congenital sentiments. In fact post-cold war follies of the West have revived the Pan Islamist fervour with a profound gusto. Religious radicalisation seems to have dwarfed all barriers and poses far reaching ramifications for posterity. 

(The author is an analyst and civil society activist: nmemon2004@yahoo.com)

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The battle for Pakistan's agriculture

The battle for Pakistan's agriculture 

by Najma Sadeque

The first battle never really took off even after 66 years - restoring unduly appropriated land to the tiller - and a second more destructive and far-reaching battle is already upon us. Monoculture killed three-fourths of global biodiversity and soils: GM can only hasten extinction.

In recent decades, the sovereignty of many countries has been undermined by the bullying impositions of corporations backed by their own governments. This extends to forcing the adoption of so-called “level playing ground” rules that cannot apply to our socio-economic and environmental conditions: fictitious “equal standing” is simply not possible between unequals.

After a long struggle, during which time the US government tried to push sanctions against the European Union if it banned or discouraged GM crops (from USA), the EU finally prevailed. And last week, financial news agencies reported on hedge funds and insider traders dumping Monsanto stock, driving prices down. That includes Monsanto’s own CEO Hugh Grant selling off 40,000 of his own company’s shares, followed by other high-level executives. Worse is expected to follow.

The reasons were the same as elsewhere - the hazards that GMOs pose to human, animal and environmental health, Monsanto’s dangerous experiments that have lead to widespread GM pollution and cancer, and its predatory business practices. No longer welcome in Europe while facing rising opposition at home, Monsanto’s last hope for market lies in developing countries such as ours, where regulation is weak.

There is an interesting similarity to Monsanto’s powers of persuasion used in USA, India and Pakistan. Monsanto has long been ‘cosy’ with US Congressmen, getting its way entirely throughout, and helpfully eased through by former Monsanto executives vaulted to government.

In India, the push to introduce Bt cotton was also engineered from top officialdom, but it was not easy. India is a huge country with many fiercely independent states, all with a strong and informed say, turning the entire farmers’ communities and public interest groups against Monsanto. While it still prevails perforce in some areas with Bt cotton, it has failed with GM food crops; and given the 200,000 farmer suicides to-date, its days seem to be numbered.

Similarly, in Pakistan, the National Biosafety Committee and other regulators are under great pressure to approve GM crops. There was quite a hue and cry in 2011 when Monsanto was exposed to have written the biotech report, which was circulated for unilateral approval without being examined in-depth. But it takes two to clap hands; the head of PARC and the Vice Chancellor of Faisalabad University had thrown their full support behind GM crops.

There are 61 federal and provincial agricultural agencies (led originally by Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) and National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC), which were devolved to the provinces in 2010. Now PARC is trying to get an extraordinary position for itself at the federal level as an umbrella organisation over all other agencies from where it will be easier to impose decisions onto the provinces. For the same reason, foreign interests such as USAID, therefore, prefer working with all-encompassing federal institutions.

This effort is remindful of the recent furore over the Farmer Assurance Provision, recently signed into law by President Barack Obama. But it had little to assure farmers with and more with boosting big agro-chemical corporations, so that it earned the title of “Monsanto Protection Act”. A provision was anonymously and secretively slipped into a resolution, as part of the Agricultural Appropriations Bill. It turned out to be a special interest loophole about which most lawmakers were unaware when they signed it. Over a quarter of million outraged US citizens then signed a petition launched by the “Food Democracy Now” network demanding the President veto it.

Why were people so angry? The provision shielded big biotech companies like Monsanto from legal action, even if a particular product proved to be harmful to humans or the environment. For the period that the provision is in place, both the Department of Agriculture and the courts are rendered powerless to stop Monsanto from producing or selling the product, no matter how toxic. The Congress actually blocked the judiciary from doing its job! According to Al-Jazeera, the provision was partly drafted by Monsanto and sneaked in through their insider friends, bypassing the necessary review from Congress' Agricultural or Judiciary Committees.

Later, the Chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Barbara Ann Mikulski, offered her apologies, claiming she did not put the offending text in and did not support it either. So, why was she so careless as to let it get through without it being discussed?

Fortunately, the provision is effective only until. By then, activists will be fighting hard to prevent it being made permanent, just as activists here will have to ensure that PARC does not become the sole decision-maker and law unto itself like the corrupted agricultural regulatory authorities in the US.

Ijaz Ahmed Rao is one such committed activist-farmer, who took it on himself to keep farmers, government decision-makers, agricultural institutions, the media and concerned citizens informed of global and local developments, good and bad, through his press writings and extensive email network - not the easiest task in an area that does not arouse strong feelings the way power politics does.

A graduate of Charles Stuart University, Australia, and a professional farmer in Bahawalpur for the last 15 years, he became interested in agro-biotechnology early on when he found his preference for organic farming difficult to pursue without government technical backup and in difficult terrain dependant on toxic river water, highly-polluted by industrial and agro-chemical runoff. He hoped to find solutions in gene technology, and initially supported the introduction of GM crops in Pakistan. But experience, controversies and data from independent sources and events since 2007 changed his mind: he concluded the technology was overhyped and MNCs were misrepresenting facts.

Between a billion and two billion rupees - all taxpayer money - is spent annually on Pakistan’s agricultural agencies to do research and related work. And though they will offer a list of impressive projects, some in collaboration with “foreign” establishments, they do not include what smallholder peasants or farmers like Ijaz Rao really need or want, such as organic farming, something they could revive with Cuba’s help, today the global leader and teacher in advanced techniques.

“Large-scale GM trials have still not been conducted in Pakistan and the process is being bulldozed so that everything is approved before the new government realises what’s really going on,” adds Rao.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has, reportedly, refused to give in to the GM lobby. If that’s true, stakeholders may not immediately lose the battle over Pakistan’s agriculture after all.

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