Daily Excelsior... Editorial

By : Pradip Kumar Chakraborty

After a gap of decades, the road link between Calcutta and Dhaka is all set to be restored,...more

By : Ashtosh Bhan

The seeds of ethnic conflict in Sindh were sown in 1947 when, during the blood letting which accompanied decolonisation...more

Bureaucracy : Have we created a Frankenstein ?

By : Joginder Singh, IPS (Retd)

A Chief Minister, finding the slow pace of development reflected in low expenditure on poverty...more

EDITORIAL

MAJOR PACKAGE

The Government has responded positively to various demands put up by Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Kashmir Traders and manufacturers Federation. The people as also the trading community had felt quite let down by the popular Government when it presented very harsh budget taking within its ambit almost all items. Faced with massive resource crunch the Government probably felt helpless particularly because Central assistance was also not coming as per expectations. In the process it opted for heavy imposts on new items, enhancement in the existing tariff on all commodities and many other unpopular measures that caused widespread resentment amongst all sections of society. Bandh sponsored by Valley traders and transporters attracted massive response from the people even as token Jammu bandh was total. These peaceful protests resulted in change of heart on the part of Government which expressed its readiness to discuss all levies, arrears and other financial burden put on the people and the trade alike. Farooq during his meeting with Valley traders gave enough of indication that Government is amenable to mitigate their hardships. Earlier to this there was similar package for the transporters.

As a follow up of the discussions held with Dr Farooq Abdullah, Acting CM Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Shah held wide and varied discussions with the representative of Chamber, Traders and Manufacturers. The Government has not sat on prestige while giving many concessions. The package for tax concessions include reduction in levies on edible oils from 8 to 4%, on footwear from 12 to 8% and on readymade garments from 8 to 4 percent. Besides, it has been decided to reduce sales tax on automobiles of all types from 8 to 4 percent. This is a very positive move in that many buyers had started booking their vehicles in neighbouring districts of Himachal Pradesh where ST was the lowest. It saved the customer upto Rs 10,000 even on the cheapest Maruti 800 model. Obviously, J&K's loss is the gain of the State that offers lower tariff. In fact Godbole Committee on economic reforms had suggested parity in taxation with the neighbouring States in particular. That is why option to increase or decrease sales tax on vehicles has been left open for reconsideration which would be finally decided after interacting with Northern States. The point to be noted is that State would react immediately to remove any disparity in rates of ST when compared to northern States. Another point to be noted is that Government has not responded positively to reduce sales tax on medicines. The sick humanity do deserve better treatment from any popular dispensation. If CM was quick to order review of charges levied for hospital services for patients, there is no reason to put additional burden on the hapless patients, some of them suffering from deadly diseases that need continuous treatment. One expects that popular Government should spare the sick citizens from payment of any enhanced tariff.

Another welcome decision of the Government relates to extending the period of Amnesty package by one more year as regards payment of outstandings on electricity tariff, sales tax etc. It has been agreed to phase out the arrears on account of sales tax to be payable quarterly in 30 instalments. This concession is available to only those assessees who clear in full the assessed/ admitted amount for the year 1997-98 and 1998-99 which ought to be cleared by July end. Any default in payment of agreed quarterly instalment would deprive the defaulter of the amnesty package and entire dues would be payable including interest and penalties imposed thereof. A similar amnesty is also given to the transporters for payment of accumulated passenger tax.

The tax concession package as also the amnesty package extension is quite welcome. It shows Government does not want confrontation with anyone and is ready to mitigate the hardships to the extent possible. Such flexibility in approach enhances image of the Government in public esteem and one hopes that instead of increasing tariff year after year to mobilise resources the thrust of the Government ought to be in the direction of plugging leakages and collecting arrears. It would be also appreciated if steps are taken for closing down the sick units that remain regular source of financial drain on the resource starved State as recommended by Godbole Committee. In fact Government had justified enhancement in levies as recommended by Godbole Committee which wanted parity in taxes with neighbouring States as also covering more items spared till recently. The Government ought to move with similar speed on other recommendations of the Godbole Committee particularly with regard to perennially sick public sector undertakings. Acting Chief Minister Mohi-ud-Din Shah as also Finance Minister Mohd Shafi deserve congrats for responding positively to various demands that had agitated the citizens and incensed the trade and industry.

MOSCOW VISIT

Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit has failed to get any concession from Russia on several issues raised by him with his counterparts. The visit assumes some importance because Nawaz Sharif is the only Prime Minister of Pakistan to visit Russia during the last 25 years. It is so because of visible Pak tilt and alliance with the western bloc wherein Pak territory was made available to thwart advance of Communism. Pak remained member of SEATO and CENTO and provided bases to America and Britain in return for massive armament supplies free of cost. But that was the period of cold war between eastern and western blocs. With cold war having ended, Pakistan has repeatedly hurt Russian interests. In Chechenya crisis, Pak trained and sent terrorist to fight against Russian armed forces present in Chechenya. In Bosnia crisis also Pak trained terrorists played pivotal role which was never approved by Russia. In the latest Kosovo fighting in Yugoslavia, Pak has invariably sided with NATO's attacks attributing their stance to protect Muslim interests there. Pak has also overt and covert tie-up with China which has supplied her nuclear and missile equipment and technologies. These too have been viewed by Russia with suspicion.

That explains why Russia refused to oblige Pakistan for mediating on Kashmir issue. They not only turned down this request from visiting Pak Premier but also stressed the need for bilateral resolve of all contentious issues including Kashmir in true spirit of Shimla accord of 1972. So much so that Russians minced no words and made it amply clear that India remains their 'strategic partner' and to that extent Pakistan cannot expect much from it other than improvement in their mutual relations but not at the cost of India. The joint communique says that both Russia and Pakistan agree to pursue the aims of complete disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation and peaceful resolution of disputes. This shows consistency in Russian friendly cooperation with India in every field while asking Pakistan to come out of its protective cocoon of internationalising Kashmir while remaining over-committed to sub-serve western interests like in Chechenya, Bosnia and Kosovo.

Bus diplomacy moves to Dhaka

By : Pradip Kumar Chakraborty

After a gap of decades, the road link between Calcutta and Dhaka is all set to be restored with the trial run of the cross-border bus service between the two cities.

The bus operation has begun after intense deliberations in Calcutta and Dhaka at the official and bus operators' levels and it is hoped that a direct bus service between Dhaka and Calcutta will start in May.

The bus service is seen as neighbourliness on wheels. A Hino air-conditioned Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation coach made its maiden journey on April 6, starting in the morning from Kamalapur BRTC terminal and reaching Salt Lake in suburban Calcutta in the night. On the way, it crossed the Aricha-Daulatdia ferry route on the mighty Jamuna, and a cheering crowd lined up along the road on the Indian side from the border check-post at Petrapole to Barasat. Indian officials and journalists made the trip from Calcutta to Dhaka on April 8.

The trial run has also given an impetus to bilateral relations as Bangladesh foreign minister Abdus Samad Azad put it : "The opening of the bus service will open up yet another new chapter in our bilateral relations with India."

Earlier, opening of the bus service between Delhi and Lahore set the tone for initiatives to respond to the growing desire among the people of South Asia as a whole for more free and frequent movement.

The Dhaka-Calcutta bus service has been a long-standing demand of the people on both sides of the border. Bangladesh and parts of India, particularly West Bengal, have a shared history, language and culture.

Even after the trauma of the partition in 1947 and consequent migration of people from both sides, millions kept the urge for people-to-people contact across geographical boundary.

No wonder the people of both the countries are overjoyed at the early prospects of resumption of a contact which got snapped after the Indo-Pak war of 1965 as was evident from the tumultous receptions accorded by the people on the way during the trial runs of buses both from Dhaka and Calcutta.

However, though the people's urge is victorious at last, there is no dearth of problems and issues which need to be sorted out at various officials levels.

The meetings at official and bus operators' levels in Dhaka reached a consensus on the contentious issue of fare fixing it at 22 US dollars both ways. The charge would be 11 US dollars or its equivalent in the currencies of the respective countries.

After a marathon-four hour meeting in Dhaka on April 9, the two sides finalised the nitty-gritty of commercial operations. The agreement was signed by both the sides on April 10 before the Indian delegation left for Calcutta.

The purchase of return ticket by the travelling passengers is likely to be mandatory with a provision of an open ticket for the return journey.

Santunu Goswami, the leader of Indian delegation said once the recommendations contained in the agreed minutes were approved by the governments of both the countries, a formal agreement would be signed at a later stage. The commercial service by the official operators of the two countries will follow the signing of a formal agreement. It is expected the 400 km journey will take 10 to 12 hours.

Two buses from Kuranamoyee in Salt Lake in Calcutta will leave for Dhaka every morning at 6:30 and 7:00 while buses from Motijheel in Dhaka would start for Calcutta at 7:00 and 7:30 am local time.

Both the operators will make a break in their journey at Magura, 199 km from Dhaka for lunch, while both sides agreed to serve the passengers breakfast at Barasat in North 24 Paraganas and on board ferries at Aricha.

Adequate security arrangements would be made. The Indian operators of the bus service would be WBSTC while the Bangladesh operators will be Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation.

Bangladesh and India have initialled an agreement and a protocol to launch the bus service in February this year.

An agreement on motor vehicle passenger traffic between Bangladesh and India was initialled in New Delhi in February this year along with a protocol covering the details of operations of the bus service.

The agreement and the protocol are due to be formally signed by the two countries once the formalities are completed before the start of the commercial operation.

The government of Bangladesh initially wanted the bus to run upto Ajmer. But subsequently that idea was dropped and the Dhaka-Calcutta service was agreed upon. Apart from the major policy issues of approval by the highest authorities of both the countries, there were some objective realities which had to be grappled through negotiations. Moreover, after the New Delhi-Lahore service became operational, it became all the more pressing to reach a consensus on various contentious issues for early introduction of the service.

A section of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party-backed transport owners and workers and some extremist elements also showed threatening postures against the bus service. Their arguments mainly stem from what they maintained as unequal features of the road and the traffic. About seventy five per cent of the total road length lies in the Bangladesh territory and the number of passengers from Bangladesh to India is also higher than that of the passengers from India to Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh National Party (BNP) chief and former premier Khaleda Zia urged the government to refrain from any initiatives which were "detrimental" to the interest of the transport owners and workers.

Asked specifically whether the BNP, once in power, would scrap the Calcutta-Dhaka bus service agreement, Begum Zia without giving a direct reply said "any unequal agreement which was against the interests of the nation would be scarpped".

About 50,000 Bangladesh nationals visit India each year for education, medical treatment, business mostly through the land route, via the Benapole-Petrapole border. These aspects raised issues like the number of buses of be plied from both the countries to counter the allegation of unequal agreement. There were also problems about the fare-structure and the immigration and customs procedures.

The negotiations in Dhaka and the agreed minutes have sorted out these issues raising the hopes of a hassle-free journey. Observers say that once the agreement and the protocol are formally signed by both the countries, the new service will not only facilitate movement of people and greater interaction, its economic benefits in a mutually inter-dependent world will percolate down to the people at the grassroots.

Trade relations between the countries are growing day by day and in view of the widening trade gap efforts are on to increase Bangladesh's exports to India. But this needs development in infrastructure, transport linkages and greater inter-action.

The bus service will be a step towards enhancing the SAARC spirit of co-operation and open up new vistas for utilisation of the common human and natural resources to the mutual benefit for the teeming millions of the region.

Bangladesh minister of state for foreign affairs, Abul Hasan Chowdhury said there was always travel between the two countries. But with the opening of the bus service this facility will be extended to a greater number of people particularly to those of the society of both countries who could not afford the expense of a plane journey.

"Additionally, I hope this also enhance the possibilities of expanding trading between the two countries."

But the most important aspect is people to people contact for a substantial understanding between two friendly and neighbouring countries. It is important that there is frequent exchange, interaction and acquaintance with each other. "The bus service will undoubtedly enhance that process and inaugurate a new era in our bilateral relations."

After the Ganges water sharing treaty, the bus service is seen as another positive step. The question of sharing Ganga waters has been an irritant in Indo-Bangladesh relations for a quarter century and a solution has been generally welcome worldwide.

Similarly, while the agreement on bus service as a corollary should open up vistas of bilateral co-operation, it provides the right setting for Sheikh Hasina to seriously consider India's request for transit facilities for goods bound for the north-east. At home front, Hasina is now facing mounting attack from Khaleda Zia's BNP on various domestic issues. The BNP is opposed to transit facility as it felt any such move would be a sell-out to India.

According to the latest proposal put forward by New Delhi to Dhaka on transit, vehicles are supposed to carry the goods up to one end of the Indo-Bangladesh border. Thereafter Bangladesh transport will carry the goods upto the other end of the border from where the Indian transport will take the charge of goods.

On the issue of carrying Indian goods traffic through Bangladesh, commerce minister Ramakrishana Hegde who visited Dhaka recently said the decision is still pending with Bangladesh government.

He raised the issue during his meeting with Bangladesh Premier. Hegde said it would give a boost to Bangladesh transport sector and create revenue earnings for them and generate employment opportunities.

Apparently referring to the political reasons that have played their part in deterring the growth of trade between the two countries over the years despite advantage and potentials, Hegde said "we must forget all other factors keeping the interest of the society in view and for improving the living conditions and standing of life of the people".

Observers feel that a new dawn in relations between the two neighbours should now set in.

PTI Featureÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ8 

Ethnic conflict in Sindh

By : Ashtosh Bhan

The seeds of ethnic conflict in Sindh were sown in 1947 when, during the blood letting which accompanied decolonisation on both sides of Sub-Continent dividee, more than a half million Urdu Speaking refugee Muslim (Mohajirs) came to Sindh. As displaced people relatively free from traditional and rural social constraints, they made a quick and necessarily complete transition to urban life. National growth and successive waves of migrants, which include those who could flee Bangladesh, kept adding to their numbers. Reliable statistics are not available, but estimates are that Mohajirs now make up about 35 per cent of Sindh's population. They are concentrated in major cities, especially in Karachi and Hyderabad where industry and commerce have thrived. When process of urbanisation finally started among Sindhis, they found themselves pre-empted by non-Sindhis. Over the years, other non-Sindhis also came and made Sindh their home. After the construction of barrages over the Indus, the one unit military government of Ayub Khan (1958-68) allotted prime lands to thousands of non-Sindhi bureaucratic and military families. Most of these now prosper as peasant proprietors and capitalist farmers of the province. There are other equally glaring instances of discriminatory land policies. A recent report of Special Committee of the Pakistan Senate says that about four million acres of land was affected by such policies.

A pattern of lopsided growth in state and industrial employment is also discernible. With the Pakhtun and Punjabi migrant workers in Karachi, these settlers make up another 15-20 percent of Sindhis population. Ethnic violence involving them which was on rise in the eighties has subsided recently, perhaps only temporarily Sindhis feel embittered that non Sindhis who probably constitute more than 50 percent of Sindhis population have turned them into a minority in their own province. Pakhtun, Punjabi and Baluchi workers and Punjabi professionals and businessmen have with the Mohajirs, transformed Karachi into a non Sindhi metropolis. It has grown from a sleepy little part town of 350,000 in 1947 to a city of seven million people now.

As Pakistan's commercial capital, Karachi accounts for 80 percent of the country's sales tax revenues and pays more than 60 percent of its income tax, non-Sindhis, who constitute 90 percent of Karachi's population, control the city and its wealth. To a lesser extent, this is also true of other Sindhi Cities, especially Hyderabad and Sukkur. Rural Sindh now contributes only 20 percent of Sindhi's gross product, non Sindhis dominate the productive urban sector. These and other statistics produce contrasting complaints. Non-Sindhi's complain that while Karachi contributes the largest portion of government revenue, it receives but miniscule share of government allocations. To Sindhis such figures signify uneven, and discriminatory development.

Sindh's Agrarian System remains the greatest single cause of its contemporary predicament. On the thresh-hold of 21st of century Sindh remains a land of feudal Lords, bonded labour and saint worship. A dozen landed and religious families - the talpurs, soomros, Bhuttos, Makhdooms and Pirs - control the rural areas and have kept its people in bondage of servitude and superstition. Political and economic reforms have not occured to release the people's considerable creative energies or instil in them working class discipline and dynamism. The steadily proletarianized Sindhis are unable to compete with their non-Sindhis counterparts. The Lords of Sindhis did not have the power or inclination to prevent the process of dislocation which underline in the third world, the geometry to urbanisation and rising expectations. Demographic growth has increasingly burdened the land, which has been eroding. Tractors have thrown many peasants off the form, as have the introduction of cash crops. Outside of Karachi and Hyderabad, industrialisation has proceeded at snails pace despite generous state loans to would-be-entrepreneurs. "The list of loan recipients" says one commentator, "reads like the who's who of the landlords and their relatives."

Industries which do exist tend to employ non-Sindhis. In the towns of Sindh, there has been a proliferation of Katchi abadis (temporary huts) which house the unemployed rural migrants.

This lumpen proletariat supplies the armies of Sindhi discontent, not its leaders or cadres. The latter come from degree colleges which have proliferated since 1973 when Mr. Bhutto embarked on a programme of modernising Sindh without changing its feudal realities. These colleges teach mostly non-technical subjects; their graduates what government jobs and feel frustrated, upon not finding them. The most virulently sectarian groupings have their strangholds among the students and graduates of these colleges.

The Mohajirs have played their part in accentuating Sindh grievances. From the beginning of their arrival in Sindh, they displayed a certain arrogance. Allocating to themselves the vanguard role in respect of Pakistani ideology and culture. The historic tensions associated with the transition from tradition to modernity, from agrarian to industrial economy are frequently played out in rural-urban terms. In Sindh, where Lords and peasants are Sindhi, and capital and labour are non Sindhi, the divide has become sharper because it is also ethnic and linguistic.

Sindhi discontent has not been directed uniformily against the Mohajir's. In the 80's, the newly formed MQM was allied to G.M. Syed's virulently nationalist Jiye Sindh movement. There is a pattern that when Sindhis are excluded from power, as in the days of General Zia-ul-Haq, the Government becomes the focus of their frustrations. When a Sindhi rules at the centre and in the province as incase of two Bhuttos the discontent is most easily mobilised against non Sindhis especially the Mohajirs.

Army was called out in 1992 to curb the rising violence in the province. The army started crackdown on MQM and started propaganda compaign against it. Thus, in short I would want to say that Pakistan instead of trying to interfere in internal affairs of India e.g. Kashmir, should solve their own statewise ethnic conflicts.