KP to Monitor Working of District Governments

PILDAT lauds the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Government’s new monitoring and evaluation initiative, which aims to ensure greater transparency and accountability in delivery of basic services by the Government. The District Performance Monitoring System is designed to evaluate the performance of District Administration by using more than 50 key performance indicators. PILDAT was informed of KP’s new performance monitoring cell in a recent meeting with KP Government Officials.

Traders Cry Over ‘Spilt Milk’

Milkmen across Lahore protested against the Punjab Food Authority�s (PFA) raids, staging a rally in their milk trucks from Thokar Naiz Baig to Punjab Assembly. Pakistan Today.

Taking stock of the recent anti-adulteration drives undertaken by the Punjab Food Authority (PFA), there has been outcry by milk traders in Punjab, criticizing the Punjab Government for stopping their containers at entry and exit points, allegedly, leading to wastage of their products and affecting their businesses. According to the PFA Act 2011, Officials are bound by law to discard milk or any other products or seal outlets after the sample test report.¹

 
PEMRA Issues Guidelines for TV Channels

In another development related to the performance of regulatory authorities, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) issued new guidelines; formally known as the Code of Conduct 2015. These new amendments to the PEMRA rules are to replace the existing code of conduct for media broadcasters and cable TV operators.

According to the amendments to PEMRA rules 2009, broadcast media outlets have been instructed to bar hate speech from their programmes. ² This includes a wide range of material that cannot be aired now. These restrictions may even be termed as encroachment on freedom of speech but much will depend upon the mechanism of enforcement. If the mechanism is fair, objective and independent of partisan considerations, it may be regarded a positive step. Any subjective consideration will render the whole exercise counterproductive.

The Lahore High Court (LHC), on Monday, September 7, 2015, in response to a petitioned filed earlier this year, ordered a complete ban on Mr. Altaf Hussain’s images and speech broadcast until final verdict of treason allegations was announced. This petition called for a lifelong ban on live broadcast of Mr. Altaf Hussain’s speeches, and maintained that he was in violation of Article 5 of the constitution, which asks for showing loyalty to the state and obedience to the constitution. The petition argued that a case of treason could be registered against the MQM Chief under Article 6 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).³

NADRA Officials Malign the Name of the Authority; 92,000 Fake IDs Issued During 2013-2015

The recent Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) report on the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) listing 40 officials who have been involved in issuance of fake national identity cards, presents a dismal picture of such a sensitive agency as NADRA and reflects poorly on the supervisory and oversight mechanisms in place in the Ministry of Interior that oversees NADRA. ISI investigations also discovered that the NADRA registration centre in the Keamari area of Karachi had sold CNICs to Afghan and Bengali nationals for Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 20,000 each. ⁴ Despite the fact that a departmental inquiry has been ordered, this state of affairs is extremely disappointing and is reflective of the corruption and fraud rampant in State Institutions and lack of adequate accountability systems.

Entire Year’s Allocation for Community Development disbursed in 52 days

Taking stock of the budget utilization of Rs. 20 billion that had been allocated to the Government for Pakistan’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Community Development Programme, during the current financial year, it is rather interesting to see that the entire amount has been disbursed in 52 days; Rs 8.4 billion in July and Rs.12.6 billion in August 2015. ⁵

PILDAT had previously expressed concern in its Monitor on Governance for June & July regarding these ‘eleventh-hour’ increases. This disbursement is not in line with the usual disbursement policy framed by the Planning Commission; under which 20% of each of the allocated funds are disbursed in the first two quarters (40 % till Dec 31), followed by 30% each in third and fourth quarters.

I-11 Katchi Abadi Evictions

�There is an approximately 7 m unit housing shortage in Pakistan and majority of demand is for low income,� Express Tribune. Photo: AFP

The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday, September 7, 2015 asked the incumbent Provincial and Federal Governments to submit the record for budgetary allocations, which have been earmarked for low cost housing for the dwellers of Katchi Abadis from 2001 to 2015.⁶ The Supreme Court (SC) is currently awaiting data from all five Governments regarding shortage of housing facilities for low-income groups of the populace and its disparity with the lands being used for upscale housing for the affluent. For the time being, the SC’s interim order of restraining the Capital Administration from taking any adverse action, issued on August 26, 2015 will remain effective.

The Law and Justice Commission submitted a report on September 5, 2015, which calls for promulgation and enactment of proper legislation for Katchi Abadis at the Federal level, similar to statutes in place, at the level of the provinces. ⁷

Rangers, NAB, FIA Join Hands for Sindh’s Anti-Corruption Drive

The Rangers� involvement in curbing corruption sheds light on the governance void created by the Sindh Government. PHOTO: AFP

On the anti-corruption front, a Joint Investigation Team (JIT)⁸ has been constituted in the Provincial Capital for extraordinary coordination among the Rangers, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) with the aim to tighten the noose around corruption related to white-collar crimes or terror financing.⁹

Despite the constitution of the JIT, Rangers have been accused of stepping outside their domain¹⁰.¹¹ Several people who are accused of corruption charges like the Chairman of Sindh Higher Education Commission, Dr. Asim Hussain have been apprehended by the Rangers during the Karachi Operation, under the 2013 amendment to the Anti Terrorism Act 1997. The law is titled Section 11EEEE, and empowers the Rangers to apprehend anyone and hold them for 90 days provided certain conditions are met. ¹²

PILDAT recommends that the Government of Sindh should focus on building Police capacity and decide on a clear cut off date for the Rangers Operation, so that control can be handed over to the Police Authorities for a sustained long-term anti-corruption drive. In addition to the capacity, both Police and the Anti Corruption Department need to be given operational autonomy with protection from partisan influences.

‘Anti-Corruption’ Gains Traction Nationwide

With regards to the recent anti-corruption drive in Sindh, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senior Vice President Senator Sherry Rehman has refuted allegations of terror funding and requested transparent probing in the warrants issued for senior PPP leaders Yousuf Raza Gilani and Makhdoom Muhammad Amin Fahim.¹³

Taking stock of Sindh’s anti-corruption efforts, PILDAT also notes that the Sindh Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) has lodged 72 FIRs, begun inquiries into 209 cases and arrested 52 officers of different departments within two months on various charges of corruption and embezzlement. According to the ACE chairman, a two-member committee has been formed to probe into NAB and FIA inquiries; majority of which are related to Local Governments, education, health, irrigation and revenue departments.¹⁴

Moreover as anti-corruption efforts across the country gain traction, KP observed some positive developments under the auspices of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) KP, which arrested 4 officials of the Public Works Department on the charge of Rs 190 million embezzlement in Upper Dir development funds.¹⁵ This and other such corruption cases are reflective of ghost schemes, which is a common phenomenon in Pakistan. In most cases complete payments are often made to contractors however physical inspection often reveals that these projects are only on paper. PILDAT lauds the NAB activism and recent anti-corruption efforts of the KP Government at the provincial level and also takes note of the recent bill tabled in the Provincial Assembly to amend the KP Ehtesab Commission Act (KPECA), which proposes, more stringent rules and regulations related to bail of persons accused of offence under this Act. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2015, seeks to enforce several changes to the existing law, including one for its applicability of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).¹⁶

Human Trafficking in Pakistan; Becoming a Social Menace

Reports indicate rising social menace of human trafficking in Pakistan, which is likely to place Pakistan on the ‘Tier-3 Watch List’¹⁷. The Human Trafficking Report issued by the US Department of State revealed that the most-wanted human traffickers in Pakistan have jumped from 78 to 95. ¹⁸

The FIA has taken notice of this and informed the provinces of the dramatic increase in the number of cases of bonded labor, slavery, prostitution, domestic servitude and child labor. A commission was formed to visit Torkham and Chaman borders and requested to submit a report on the security situation and immigration process at the visit sites. PILDAT commends the formation of this commission intended to probe into reasons for human trafficking.

The Kasur Child Abuse Scandal

Arrested gang members of a sexual abuse scandal in the police lockup in Hussain Khanwala Village on August 9, 2015. PHOTO AFP

Kasur Child Abuse Scandal has exposed acute weakness of policing and its oversight by the supervisory tiers of the Local and Provincial Governments. A Joint Investigation Team (JIT) ¹⁹ has been formed by the Punjab Government to probe in to this child abuse and extortion scandal in the Hussain Khanwala Village in the Kasur Dsitrict. Media reports reveal that around 400 videos were made of 280 victims over the past 10 years by an organized gang of over 25 people. Parliament’s upper house, the Senate has passed a unanimous resolution condemning the abuse and demanding exemplary punishments for the culprits. Six suspects have been arrested so far.  

Appeal Against IHC Decision in Promotion of 300 Bureaucrats

The Federal Government filed an Intra Court Appeal (ICA) against the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) decision to set aside promotions of over 300 civil servants on August 28, 2015. These promotions were recommended by the Central Selection Board (CSB), in May 2015. Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the IHC had set aside these promotions on July 27, 2015 and directed the Government to revise its promotion criteria and reconsider promotion of Officers whose names had been overlooked in the CSB Meeting.²⁰ This comes in the aftermath of the recently introduced formula that allows the CSB to award 15% marks and set 85% marks for the performance of the officer.²¹ IHC heard petitions of several bureaucrats against the recommendations of the CSB. The petitioners maintained that the promotion decisions had disregarded merit and hand picked individuals by exploiting the 15 discretionary marks to be awarded by the CSB, thereby creating an overriding effect which led to exclusion of Officers who had objectively received more than 75 marks based on their service records and performance evaluations.

Pak-India NSA Talks-A Non-Starter

The National Security Adviser (NSA) level talks that were scheduled to take place in Delhi on August 23, 2015 had to be abandoned after serious differences arose over the agenda of the talks. Indian position was that the NSA-level talks were agreed to discuss security-related or more specifically terrorism-related issues. Pakistan wanted an expanded agenda with Kashmir dispute included. Apparently Pakistani and Indian Prime Ministers had agreed in Ufa to begin the process of talks by first discussing the security issues so that conducive atmosphere may be created for wide-ranging or composite dialogue. This agreement faced severe criticism, both spontaneous and apparently orchestrated too, in Pakistan because the critics felt that the Kashmir dispute was missing from the agenda. The pressure on Pakistan Government to include Kashmir in the agenda mounted to a point that it had to propose an agenda that was at considerable variance from Indian understanding of the agenda. On the other hand, Indian Government set an unreasonable condition for the visit to go through; it asked the Pakistani NSA not to meet Kashmiri Hurriyat leaders while in Delhi. The aborted dialogue indicates mismanagement of foreign policy process on both sides.

Qaim Orders Rehabilitation of 58,000 Flood-hit People

Sindh Chief Minister (CM), Qaim Ali Shah has focused his attention to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) in the aftermath of the recent floods, which caused substantial loss and devastation. In a welcome development the CM has asked the PDMA to strengthen the capacity of the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) and extend the scope of its activities by including the Chairman of the District Zakat Office (DZO) as a member of the District Zakat Board and member of the Sindh Zakat Council and the Provincial Secretary of Zakat as members of the Provincial Zakat board. ²² This is expected to ensure better execution of the rescue and relief efforts at the grassroots level. With regards to disaster preparedness, PILDAT also notes that Karachi is in a vulnerable position when it comes to disaster preparedness. In a recent roundtable discussion on ‘Disaster Risk Reduction Earthquake and Disaster Management 2015’, experts came forward to chart out a strategy for seismic hazard and risk assessment for Karachi, which is situated in an active tectonic setting.²³ Several gaps related to seismic data mining were identified during this roundtable.

Pak-EPA’s Functions Temporarily Paralyzed

With regards to the Pakistan Environment Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) environmental, regulatory and monitoring functions have been put on hold after the position for head of the agency became vacant more than a month ago.²⁴ PILDAT notes the lack of action by the Government in appointing a new head of the agency, the position for which has been vacant since July 13, 2015, after the former Director General moved abroad. This has inhibited the EPA from taking any legal action against hospitals, clinics and pathology laboratories for inadequate disposal of hazardous waste. Moreover, several environmental protection orders (EPOs) are pending against private housing societies for environmental degradation of natural surroundings.

MoU signed to form Pakistan Stock Exchange

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was recently signed on the integration of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad to form a single entity; the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSE). ²⁵This integration is expected to reduce market fragmentation and potentially attract strategic partnerships, which are conducive for exchange of technological expertise and assistance. However, it is worth noting that regulatory transparency could continue to be a question mark as the competition in the market will be eliminated and a Karachi centric stock exchange will monopolize the market. Additionally, regulators may find it difficult to manage acceptance for tougher regulatory frameworks without first experimenting with local stock exchanges.

Banking on this recent development Finance Minister, Mohammad Ishaq Dar said that the Government has achieved majority of the goals of its manifesto regarding macroeconomic stability, economic revival and social protection. Only time can substantiate the veracity of these claims, however things look positive for the country’s capital market outlook.

Farmers Denounce Trade with India

Farmers have become increasingly active in expressing their disapproval at the current support prices set for their crops and the agricultural exports from India, which are hurting the competitiveness of their domestic produce.²⁶Activists of the Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI) staged a demonstration in front of the Punjab Assembly to press the Provincial Government to meet their demands, including an end to trade with India in agriculture products. The PKI explained that at current prices the farmers were unable to meet their input costs and were forced to take loans from the middlemen at high interest rates. Moreover, availability of cheaper products from India drowns them out of the market.

Revenue Surge in Discos’ Revenue worth $400 m in 2010-15

A recent revenue surge was noticed in the Power Distribution Companies’ (discos) revenues; worth US $ 400 million.²⁷ These figures were released upon the completion of the five-year US Government-funded project for Pakistan’s Power Distribution Programme. This US $ 218 million project was part of the US Government’s commitment to support Pakistan’s Energy Sector. Total electricity the Discos managed to save was 200 MW, which could potentially supply power to three million people. This is a welcome development in the face of Pakistan’s perpetual energy crisis, which has been a cause of concern for many years now. PILDAT also notes that from 2010-2015 this programme trained approximately 32,000 energy sector specialists, installed state-of-the-art systems to monitor and control flow of power, improved consumer-billing systems and introduced international best practices.

ECP Announces Local Government Elections for Sindh & Punjab

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced schedule for the first phase of local body elections in Punjab and Sindh, which are to be held on October 31, 2015. ²⁸ PILDAT notes that this is a welcome development after much delay by the ECP, which filed a petition in the Supreme Court for a 30-day extension in the date for holding Local Government elections in Punjab and Sindh. Despite ECP’s readiness and claims that it is all set to hold the elections on the aforementioned date; certain activities still need to completed before polling can begin this includes delimitation of constituencies, revision of electoral rolls and other legal formalities.

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