EDITORIAL : THE DAWN, PAKISTAN

Unfortunate action

A REPORT in this newspaper yesterday disclosed a new twist in the saga of how India has managed to earn carbon credits from a UN agency for two hydropower projects in Indian-held Kashmir without Pakistan raising an official objection despite having reservations on the projects. The twist: intelligence agencies raided the offices of at least two federal ministries, water and power, and environment, and seized documents in connection with the power projects. Unhappily, it appears that political paralysis and bureaucratic machinations have yet again provided the security establishment with an excuse to insert itself into the workings of the government. Several questions arise here. What legal authority do the security agencies have to seize documents from federal ministries? Or was it simply done under the carte blanche that the ‘national interest’ provides? The already woeful civil-military imbalance seems to have manifested itself once again in unfortunate and unnecessary circumstances.
In the real world, where actors will seize whatever space is offered to them, perhaps the most pointed questions have to be reserved for the political government in the present instance. The issue of the Indian hydropower project is not new, dating back to the mid-2000s. It definitely appeared on the radar of the present government last July when the prime minister ordered an inquiry into how India was able to secure the UN carbon credits after a private citizen wrote to the prime minister to inform him of the issue. Then in late February this newspaper again reported that after months of procrastination three ministries — water and power, environment and foreign affairs — had begun inquiries, though it appeared to largely involve passing the blame from one ministry to the next. So by the time the intelligence agencies swung into action on Friday, the political government had nine months to ascertain the facts and affix responsibility for lapses
or wrongdoing where necessary.

Quite simply, the civil-military imbalance will never be redressed unless the civilians improve their performance. Water is critical to the security of the country. Some experts believe that if the Chutak and Nimoo-Bazgoo projects by India are allowed to go unchallenged, it may affect Pakistan’s case on the much larger Kishanganga project. There may be many reasons why the two Indian projects slipped through the cracks of the Pakistani state, but at the very least the political government should have by now found answers to why exactly that happened. The intelligence agencies’ actions were distasteful and perhaps even exceeded their jurisdiction; but it’s pre-emptive and corrective measures that the country needs, not criticism that will be shrugged off by certain quarters.

Circular debt

THE government has formulated a strategy comprising a raft of measures to dissolve what has come to be known as the inter-corporate circular debt in the power sector. The strategy is primarily based on raising Rs130bn by floating term finance certificates before the current financial year ends and making a series of adjustments in the government’s receivables from the public-sector oil and gas companies. By implementing these measures, it hopes to reduce the circular debt to a ‘negligible level’. Experience, however, tells us the new plan is highly unlikely to settle the issue. The problem is bound to rear its head again — notwithstanding stopgap moves such as the release of Rs15bn to the smaller IPPs — unless the government effectively addresses the sources of a crisis which has created a lasting liquidity crunch in the energy sector at the expense of economic growth and fresh investment in power generation.

Circular debt is mainly caused by the government’s failure to pay tariff subsidies that are mounting on the back of rising global fuel prices. Pepco’s inability to curb vast power theft, reduce distribution losses and generation inefficiencies and recover overdue electricity bills from consumers, including government departments, has also contributed significantly to it. While it is important for the government to pay off the piled-up circular debt, it must also put in place measures to prevent its accumulation in future. A resolution to the problem is critical for stimulating economic growth and attracting fresh investment in the power sector. The debt is estimated to be running into hundreds of billions of rupees now. If left unresolved the build-up could pull down the economy. The increase in electricity prices is essential to narrow down tariff differential. But while it is a painful measure it is not a comprehensive enough answer given the complexity of the question. The government must encourage initiatives for reducing the cost of electricity generation. The expert advice has been voiced often enough: dependence on expensive furnace oil should be cut to minimum, the use of coal for generation should be encouraged and new hydropower projects launched. The need is to energise, out-of-the-circle, alternative thinking.

UN report on Palestine

THE UN special coordinator’s report seems to have hit the nail on the head when it points to the hurdles Israel’s occupation of the West Bank has placed in the way of Palestine’s march towards statehood. Released on Tuesday, the report credits the Palestinian Authority with building institutions and services required of a sovereign state. It specifically refers to the progress the PA has made in developing governance, rule of law, infrastructure and health and social services to a level expected of a state. That the PA has achieved this remarkable progress in spite of the limitations built into the situation because of Israel’s continued occupation of the West Bank shows the Palestinian people’s resolve to live in peace and freedom on their soil in spite of the odds they have been facing since the carving of the state of Israel out of their land by the UN in 1948.
The UN report will have no impact on the Arab-Israeli conflict because the world body has displayed no resolve to implement two of its key resolutions (242 and 338) which categorically call for an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories. The UN failed to act even when it was operating in a bipolar world. Now, with the world body under American pressure, it matters little what its special coordinator says about the PA’s good work shortly before the donors meet. The UN has censured Israel several times for trying to alter the West Bank’s Arab-Islamic character, and America, which is sympathetic to Israel’s interest, has publicly committed itself to a two-state solution. But Israel has brazenly defied all American pressure and has continued its settlement activity in and around Jerusalem after having annexed the holy city in violation of the two UN resolutions. With the US Congress often labelled occupied territory, Israel has little to worry about.