Sindhi Press Digest
February 06, 2007
Democrats’ move against Pakistan ill-timed

By Sohail Sangi

Sindhi-language newspapers gave an exhaustive coverage last week to the recent moves by the Democrats in the US Congress to make things difficult for Pakistan at a time when the two countries need each other to sustain the `war on terror’.
The daily Ibrat, in comments on the bill proposing to link assistance to Pakistan with a presidential certificate regarding ties with the Taliban, says the bill would affect Pakistan-US relations as it also calls for the handover of nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer.The Ibrat likens the Democrat-sponsored legislation to the Pressler amendment, which had blocked US assistance to Pakistan after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. The newspaper urges Islamabad to take a `bold stand’ on the issue.
The daily Kawish and Hilal-i-Pakistan oppose the decision of the cabinet’s economic coordination committee on the sale of 1,423 acres of Pakistan Steel Mills land. The newspapers point out that the matter is sub judice as the Supreme Court has taken up a review petition against its verdict declaring the PSM’s privatisation null and void.
The Hilal-i-Pakistan recalls that during hearings in the privatisation case, the higher courts had made an observation that the land excluded from the deal was the Sindh government’s property.During the 1970s, the Sindh government had allocated the land to the PSM after paying a meagre compensation to villagers. Although the price of the land is running into billions, it is being gifted to capitalists for ridiculously low sums, the daily alleges.
The Hilal-i-Pakistan also criticises the sale by a number of government organisations of plots given to them for a specific purpose. It calls upon the government to ensure that such plots are used for the purpose they were given to the departments.The newspaper cites the Railways decision to sell land earmarked for improvement and expansion of the rail network. The Hilal-i-Pakistan terms the action institutionalised land-grabbing.
The daily Koshish editorialises on an incident in Gambat in which a jirga (tribal council) ordered the `sale’ of two women after declaring them karis.The Koshish deplores the indifference of the police, pointing out that it did not bother to intervene even though the jirga had taken the decision a month ago.Even the councillors and nazims remained unmoved, the newspaper laments. “The police filed a case after the incident, but it was too little too late.”
Three newspapers — Ibrat, Kawish, and Awami Awaz — criticise the recent observations of the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) that owing to the `negligence’ of Wapda and the Sindh and Punjab governments, 200,000 MAF of water is released into the seas and wasted.The dailies argue that the release of water downstream Kotri is not a wastage because Kotri is not a delta. “There are people and animals who live on the water released downstream Kotri.”

The daily Kawish focuses on a new menace spreading its tentacles in the province -- businessmen, feudal lords, retired and serving officers are advancing loans on exorbitant interest rates.Most of the debtors have no alternative but to dispose of their properties to keep the loan sharks at bay, Kawish observes.The analyst wonders how these moneylenders are running business on such a large scale without paying anything by way of income tax.
The Kawish calls upon the government to crack down on `the parasites’ and take steps to rescue the debtors from their clutches.