The gas gaffe and the man from Sindh

Monday, July 07, 2008
Kamal Siddiqi

The writer is editor reporting, The News

Only in Pakistan can we have a situation where a minister wrongly announces a rate for fuel and gets away with it. Earlier this week, the right-talking foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who is also burdened with the petroleum portfolio because the PML-N ministers do not want to share the same table with their PPP counterparts, made an error for which the people of Pakistan ended up paying billions.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi announced that the price of CNG, the fuel of choice for most Pakistani motorists now, had been raised by Rs13/kg to Rs52/kg. It later transpired that the raise was of Rs5.58/kg. But the drama did not end there.

The CNG Dealers Association said that this raise was not fine by them, while the government played confused and in limbo when people protested. In the meantime, thousands of motorists all over the country paid extra and fought at CNG pumps as confusion reigned supreme. There seemed no one in charge. When the petroleum minister does not know what he is saying, one can only wonder what is happening.

The minister, for his part, did not even apologise for his blunder. In fact, no one from the government has done so. The only assurance we have is from the minister for information who has promised action against “officials,” despite the fact that it was her cabinet colleague who was the man responsible. Who will hang for the sin of the powerful?

But things have been “settled” in true Pakistani style. The CNG dealers had their way and Pakistanis will now pay Rs47.25/kg, not what the government had earlier suggested. One wonders who is regulating whom.

Speaking of which, we were blessed again with multiple visits by US officials of varying importance. The US is also insistent that it has the right to enter, attack and kill on Pakistani soil. Our prime minister and government insist this is not the case. Again, we are left at a loss as to whom we believe. Punters say that the US are a better bet. At least they are consistent in what they say.

As Pakistanis, however, one sometimes feels offended at the manner in which US officials seems to have something to say and dictate with regards to our internal matters and affairs. US official Richard Boucher told Mian Nawaz Sharif to “go soft” on Musharraf. Let us see how Mian Nawaz, who has promised not to take foreign dictation this time round, reacts to this advice.

The next day, Boucher advised our government to focus on extremism, food and the power crisis. He termed President Musharraf as a “non-issue.” No one from the Pakistani side protested this statement.

In these troubling and depressing times, we are struck with the good news that a former leading TV host has now joined the ranks of the government mouthpiece on a package that nears Rs1 million per month. This right-talking man seemed to have a price which has now been paid. The less said the better. In all this, one looks to the information queen for some guidance. The head of Radio Pakistan is a friend of the leader. How can she justify these appointments? After all, the money will come from the public exchequer.

Possibly, one idea would be to raise the TV license fee that we pay through our electricity bills. This brilliant idea of our former prime minister, who we are told is now too scared to come back to Pakistan, is another example of how the government squeezes from the poor to reward the rich.

The information minister, like all her predecessors, has her own tales to spin. Now she has come out with a statement that tells us something. That the members of the coalition are “not telling the entire truth” when they say that they were not taken on board about the Bara operation. Is it that our leaders also deceive each other, not just the masses? Now that is a thought worth considering.

The bad news from Sindh has been the transfer of IG Shoaib Suddle. Dr Suddle was brought into Sindh for the wrong reasons and has been shunted out, again for the wrong reasons. When he was drafted to head one of Pakistan’s most corrupt and notorious police forces, Dr Suddle was under the impression that he would come in to make some inroads into crime – particularly that which is linked to politics.

Instead, he had been brought in to make a point and now that this has been done, he has been “rewarded” with the post of chief of the country’s Intelligence Bureau.

Alliances were formed after the Suddle transfer had the desired effect in Sindh. But then Suddle became a burden for the party when he was staunch in his refusal to allow stuffing of police posts with party workers. The soon-to-begin recruitment drive will now be held without a hitch – the thorn has been removed.

With the exit of Suddle, we now have an IG in Sindh who claims to come from an “aristocratic family.” When he released a picture of himself to the media, it was one that was of him when he was 20 years younger. The accompanying press release stated that this new IG “was the man for the job.” So much for leaving things for others to decide.

The Karachi police chief is also an interesting appointment. With his handlebar moustaches – a somewhat unclipped imitation of what our finance minister sports – this officer also served as de-facto interior minister Rehman Malik’s man in the FIA in Sindh during the Karachi operation. Now we know who calls the shots.

It is not comforting to know that when all these transfers and changes were being made by the people that be, the issue of rising crime in the province was not the factor that played any role in the decisions.

On other fronts, patience is wearing thin. Naheed Khan and Makhdoom Amin Fahim are finally breaking their vow of silence. Naheed Khan told a TV channel that the Mohtarma spoke of no new will with her. Makhdoom Amin Fahim speaks of a split in the party where the old guard is now being sidelined. Where is the party heading? The rumble from the old guard is getting louder.

July brings with it prospects of another round of talks between Asif Zardari and Mian Nawaz Sharif. Once again, despite the media hype that goes with such events, in all probability not much will come out of it.

Observers say that, instead, the chances are more of a change in the Presidency. The “man from Sindh” may well be Aftab Shaban Mirani, known for his cool-headedness. But, as we saw in the case of Makhdoom Amin Fahim, one cannot speculate what is going on in the head of Mr Zardari.

Not to be unfazed by any of this, our brave lawyers have once again taken to the streets. They observed yet another strike and are chalking out plans for another bout of street protests. One has to give them marks for consistency. At least some things in Pakistan can be counted upon.

Same is the case with inflation. After a round of rises in fuel and CNG prices, we are told the next hike will be in the power rates. Given the massive load-shedding that we see in the country, the only silver lining here is that power bills will remain the same. To every cloud there is a silver lining.