OIC : 40th Anniversary

10:0522/09/2009

Sergei Demidenko, an expert on Arab affairs at the Institute of Strategic Assessments and Analysis

(Courtesy ; Ria Novosti)

Question: What could you say about the work of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) 40 years after its inception?

Answer: I cannot say that the work done by OIC has been effective. Unfortunately, the Organization comprises countries with various political, cultural and economic interests. In effect, the OIC is a kind of discussion club, which does not adopt any decisions but creates a necessary platform and facilitates long-term decisions. On the whole, the OIC is more of a discussion club.

Q.: What, in your opinion, has the OIC accomplished in the past 40 years?

A.: The OIC is probably one of the few discussion platforms in the world that enables Islamic countries to discuss various important regional and civilizational issues now of concern to the Arab world and the Islamic world. We should keep in mind that the OIC is one of the few organizations dominated by former Third World countries. This is very important because it is probably the only platform where they can discuss their problems without the great powers, the United States, the European Union and their pressure, and tackle various issues together.

Q.: Do you think these countries and the world as a whole would not fare better without the OIC?

A.: It is not completely correct to pose the question this way. I believe this organization should be viewed in the long-term context. The OIC can play a constructive role in the future. But, in my opinion, this will happen after most Islamic countries achieve success, primarily in the economic and political spheres. Consequently, such countries will gain a voice among industrial states. Quite possibly, the OIC will then be able to draft more or less important decisions.

At present, the OIC is just a conglomerate of states that are multidirectional in all respects.

Q.: What could you say about specific contacts and cooperation between the OIC and Russia?

A.: Russia has observer status with the OIC and must retain its presence in this organization. Whether we like it or not, Russia is also part of the Islamic world because many of its citizens preach Islam. Russia must keep its eyes open and follow various political and economic trends in the Islamic world because this directly affects us.

Q.: What should the OIC do in order to increase its influence in the solution of regional and global problems?

A.: OIC leaders are unable to change anything in this respect. An evolutionary process is a top priority. The organization will change, depending on changes in the Islamic world’s socio-political situation. Its role will also change as a result.

Honour killing in Sindh

PPP and MQM Coalition Govt. should take Notice of the issue.

40 women killed during May

HYDERABAD, SINDH: [SindhWeek.Com Report] Abbas Kassar, Coordinator of Peace and Human Rights Trust, Sindh, have issued an alarming reports on situation of women in Sindh, province of Pakistan. The report says that in month of May 2009, in Sindh province, 40 women were killed under honor killing, 20 women were gang raped, 43 women were kidnapped and 3 women were buried without coffin. The report elaborates that 175 men were also killed including killed in honor. The PHRT is a London based human right organization have chapters in Pakistan to watch human right situation.

Mr Kassar, a senior journalist and Coordinator of PHRT term this report “The human rights situation in Sindh is very alarming. Peace and Human Rights Trust has made a report for the month of May while reports of June and July is also ready to release” This is meant to open the eyes of rulers that they have failed to protect human rights of people especially of women.

Pakistan Steel Mill : PM earned Kudos

The Steel Mills case

By Ayesha Siddiqa

(Courtesy Daily Dawn)

Interestingly, Moeen Aftab Sheikh was removed even before an inquiry was instituted or a report submitted about his supposed wrongdoings.

Legally, this hurried action would be considered mala fide since no charge-sheet was brought against the gentleman and the decision was taken before the inquiry report. The case raises two fundamental questions: first, does the decision indicate the government’s concern for accountability, or does it indicate its inability to run a business and appreciate the problems caused by economic recession?

Or perhaps the objective was merely to get rid of the chairman, an officer with an unblemished career in government for 35 years. Second, was the media fair in embarking upon a witch-hunt without ascertaining the facts of the case?

The government still does not know the exact losses, as there are varied figures. It’s the PSM management which estimated the concern’s losses at Rs21bn. However, the estimate given in the special report of the auditor-general gives a lower figure of Rs9bn. Also, why did Mr Gilani not wait for the report from the PSM’s auditors?

This was the prime minister’s opportunity to earn kudos from the public for taking someone out without taking the trouble to explain to the media that the huge loss was not caused by individual corruption but was a result of global economic recession.

This is not the first time that PSM has incurred huge losses. The organisation had run an accumulated loss of over Rs20bn for the period 1985-90 and 1993-99, which could have been paid off when the mill started making money from 2001-02 to 2008. Unfortunately, PSM fell on bad times again due to a slump in the international market after April 2008.

Another misfortune was the absence of a national steel policy, which meant that there was no plan to bail out the national steel-making concern. The government did not make any effort to stop the customs department from allowing private importers from importing secondary steel at the lower import price meant for primary steel. This scam meant that the private sector could undercut the PSM as they managed to import and sell low-grade steel at around Rs40,000 per tonne compared to the PSM’s Rs42,000 per tonne, thus earning a mark-up of at least Rs10,000-12,000.

An additional problem was caused by the dumping of 0.5 million tonnes of steel by the ship-breakers and electricity loadshedding, which forced numerous downstream industries dependent on PSM to close down. So, orders for about 300,000 tonnes of steel were cancelled. The Steel Mills’ management was stuck with an inventory of Rs9bn, which it tried to dispose of by altering the marketing strategy.

The decision was taken during a meeting attended by the chairman and members of the finance and accounts, commercial and marketing departments, the minutes of which were duly recorded. Instead of selling according to a quota system, a policy of open sales was introduced. This meant that major investors could pick up large quantities of steel and help PSM stay afloat.

The main beneficiaries of the new policy were five different concerns: Metropolitan, Amreli, Abbas Engineering, Al-Abbas Steel and Abbas Steel. Contrary to the belief that the lowering of prices was meant to benefit one of President Zardari’s close friends, there were a total of 232 beneficiaries. Interestingly, the friend (Riaz Lalji) continues to be a significant buyer even after Aftab Sheikh’s sacking due to his greater production capacity rather than anything else.

The decision to lower prices was meant to save the mill. Industrial experts are of the view that shutting PSM is not a possibility because restarting it would not only be technologically difficult but also cost approximately Rs20bn. Meanwhile, the government would have to foot the bill for PSM’s 17,000 employees, which stands at about Rs600m per month.

In any case, the open sale policy was meant to solve the liquidity problem for which the management also used workers’ gratuity. This is not odd since all public and private sector firms do so. The Karachi shipyard under the navy’s management had also done the same in the mid-1990s to stay afloat. Using funds like gratuity or the contractor’s seed money is a done thing for a business concern, especially for the PSM, which badly needs funds for its modernisation.

The Steel Mills is 25 years old with a limited production capacity of a million tonnes. Its British consultant Corus had advised its increasing capacity to about three million tonnes for the concern to become profitable. Resultantly, the management signed an MoU with the Chinese firm MCC which would not become binding unless approved by the ministry of industries and production. It is a misplaced accusation that the government was being forced to incur a debt of Rs2.2bn since no final agreement was signed and there was nothing binding on the government until MCC produced a feasibility study. Had the media seen the MoU, they would have found that the document was not binding on the government until certain conditions were met. In any case, investment for development purposes is not money lost.

Equally baseless is the accusation about the management making money from a contract with the Railways since nothing was signed.

There is also no evidence of corruption since all procurement was done in accordance with the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) regulations and implemented by the committee formed by the government. The accusation of higher prices being paid for raw material and freight is a fallacy since the price of coal, iron ore and coke varies in the international market and the management had to adapt to the changes, which it could not do all the time being a public-sector organisation.

Perhaps what is needed is an inquiry into what the government achieved with its sudden and artificial show of justice. More importantly, is the media above board and should it be allowed to lynch people without a proper hearing which is the norm in civilised societies?

The writer is an independent strategic and political analyst.

Terrorism : Deoband Stance

I have taken it from “Monthly Rahimia”.The Magazine Sep ‘09 issue can be downloaded from

http://www.rahimia.org/