The rescue and relief operations would have been prompter, better organized and more effective in the earthquake-affected areas but for the decisions forced in recent past by bureaucrats and politicians.
Azad Kashmir was exempted when the new Local Government was introduced in 2001 because it would have reduced the powers of the bureaucrats running the territory. So, as under the colonial system, the Deputy Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners remained in place as ever and were supposed to deal with the emergency. They failed. One Assistant Commissioner told Imran Khan that he was “waiting for orders.” Another told a private television channel in detail what was needed but could not mention a single thing that he himself had done. One Deputy Commissioner included the tremendous job being done by the army in “our operations.”
On the other hand, the people’s representatives just do what they have to do. On the very first night after the earthquake, the Azad Kashmir Prime Minister, Sardar Sikandar Hayat, set up his camp office in a tent next to his devastated office, with no electricity, no phone, not even water.
Islamabad is also still under the colonial system because of resistance from bureaucrats. Capital Development Authority, which was supposed only to develop the territory, took over all other functions also. So, our federal capital, despite having a population of about one million, is still ruled by bureaucrats. It elects its representatives for Parliament but not for any Local Government. So, you know whom to blame for any lapses after the earthquake. And don’t expect any heads to roll over Margalla Towers.
The problem with the colonial system, as always, was that the bureaucrats only obeyed orders. They would not take any initiative, however noble, because the bosses could consider it “unauthorized.” For them, saving their skin has the highest priority. By contrast, the elected representatives in the Local Government system just do whatever is necessary. They can mobilize all resources, public or private, in emergencies.
Unfortunately, those in the affected areas of NWFP could not do their duty. Elsewhere in the country also, the relief operations were adversely affected. The reason was that the ambitious politicians, who had recently discovered the new Local Government system and wanted a smooth path to enter it, forced the removal of all Nazims (Zila, Tehsil, Union) well before the recent elections, creating a vacuum for almost four months. So, when the earthquake struck, the old ones were not there and the new ones had yet to assume office (on October 17). Meanwhile, the bureaucrats were running local administration all over the country.
The lessons are obvious.
a) Introduce the Local Government system in Azad Kashmir and Islamabad without further.
b) Always allow the people’s representatives to continue to work until the newly elected ones are ready to replace them.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
EARTHQUAKE: Eight myths of Kashmir Quake 8/10
In the days following the Kashmir Quake 8/10, our paper and electronic media created many myths about it. Here are the eight most important ones:
Myth #01: Aid was not reaching the remote villages
The reporters and commentator never visited those villages. (If anyone did, he should have reported it to the nearest center and the relief would have been on its way immediately.) They just repeated wild guesses of the ordinary people in towns, who themselves had not visited the remote areas. Nobody could know until the villagers over there themselves came down to get relief. But then they would be no longer without aid.
Myth #02: There was a lack of coordination in relief work
The government appointed a Federal Relief Commissioner (with Commissioners in all provinces) to get a complete picture of the affected area, find out about its needs and coordinate all efforts to meet them. Yet everybody continues to complain of lack of coordination. There is no remedy for deliberate ignorance.
Myth #03: There was a long delay in relief operations
The Government, under normal conditions, does not keep vast stocks of food, clothing, medical supplies, blankets, tents and other items. In an emergency, these have to come from the people and the suppliers and it takes time. The roads were blocked. The local administration and its infrastructure in the affected areas had been wiped out. Only the army could do the relief work at a large scale and the government deployed it immediately to the maximum extent. The units up in the mountains along the Line of Control found their return paths blocked by slides. Their infrastructure in towns was demolished. They themselves suffered hundreds of casualties. Yet the army units started relief work wherever they happened to be.
Myth #04: Indian helicopters would have been of great help.
There was an obvious mischief in the offer. The objective was to survey in detail with human eyes our army positions along the Line of Control, something no satellite could do. As for relief, those helicopters have not been able to provide relief even on their own side, where the devastation was only in a very small area. And why did India not send right away tents and blankets in large quantity that were needed more than helicopters?
Myth #05: After such a big earthquake, there will be no others
There may not be another big one in the same area but other areas are vulnerable. According to Indian seismologists, the Kangra area in Himachal Pradesh is active again. The epicenter of the earthquake in 1905 was only 200 kms from Lahore. After 100 years, another big one may come any time.
Myth #06: The differences of politicians have disappeared
No opposition leader is missing any opportunity to criticize the government. The leader of the opposition refused to attention the National Security Council meeting that was to discuss just the matters relating to the earthquake. Not even a calamity can stop opposition from its dirty games.
Myth #07: Reporters gave eyewitness accounts of the total picture
Well, how much of reality can a reporter see in an area of 20,000 sq. kms, even if he has a helicopter of his own? Feeling only one leg of an elephant does not tell a blind man how the animal looks like. When a reporter cannot cover more than a very small area in the whole day, the total picture will take a whole team many weeks.
Myth #08: The death toll may be close to 500,000
Many journalists, especially Talat Husain of Aaj TV, insist that the death toll is up to half a million. They do not realize the implications of their sensationalism. Suppose the government accepts their wild guess. It has announced compensation of Rs 100,000 per death. If the actual body count turns out to be no more than 100,000, it will end up paying 400,000 bogus claims. That will be Rs 40 billion down the drain.
In New York, over 8000 were estimated initially to have died on 9/11. The official figure later was 2752. In New Orleans, the mayor claimed that more than 10,000 had died. The actual body count turned out to be only 1,163.
Myth #01: Aid was not reaching the remote villages
The reporters and commentator never visited those villages. (If anyone did, he should have reported it to the nearest center and the relief would have been on its way immediately.) They just repeated wild guesses of the ordinary people in towns, who themselves had not visited the remote areas. Nobody could know until the villagers over there themselves came down to get relief. But then they would be no longer without aid.
Myth #02: There was a lack of coordination in relief work
The government appointed a Federal Relief Commissioner (with Commissioners in all provinces) to get a complete picture of the affected area, find out about its needs and coordinate all efforts to meet them. Yet everybody continues to complain of lack of coordination. There is no remedy for deliberate ignorance.
Myth #03: There was a long delay in relief operations
The Government, under normal conditions, does not keep vast stocks of food, clothing, medical supplies, blankets, tents and other items. In an emergency, these have to come from the people and the suppliers and it takes time. The roads were blocked. The local administration and its infrastructure in the affected areas had been wiped out. Only the army could do the relief work at a large scale and the government deployed it immediately to the maximum extent. The units up in the mountains along the Line of Control found their return paths blocked by slides. Their infrastructure in towns was demolished. They themselves suffered hundreds of casualties. Yet the army units started relief work wherever they happened to be.
Myth #04: Indian helicopters would have been of great help.
There was an obvious mischief in the offer. The objective was to survey in detail with human eyes our army positions along the Line of Control, something no satellite could do. As for relief, those helicopters have not been able to provide relief even on their own side, where the devastation was only in a very small area. And why did India not send right away tents and blankets in large quantity that were needed more than helicopters?
Myth #05: After such a big earthquake, there will be no others
There may not be another big one in the same area but other areas are vulnerable. According to Indian seismologists, the Kangra area in Himachal Pradesh is active again. The epicenter of the earthquake in 1905 was only 200 kms from Lahore. After 100 years, another big one may come any time.
Myth #06: The differences of politicians have disappeared
No opposition leader is missing any opportunity to criticize the government. The leader of the opposition refused to attention the National Security Council meeting that was to discuss just the matters relating to the earthquake. Not even a calamity can stop opposition from its dirty games.
Myth #07: Reporters gave eyewitness accounts of the total picture
Well, how much of reality can a reporter see in an area of 20,000 sq. kms, even if he has a helicopter of his own? Feeling only one leg of an elephant does not tell a blind man how the animal looks like. When a reporter cannot cover more than a very small area in the whole day, the total picture will take a whole team many weeks.
Myth #08: The death toll may be close to 500,000
Many journalists, especially Talat Husain of Aaj TV, insist that the death toll is up to half a million. They do not realize the implications of their sensationalism. Suppose the government accepts their wild guess. It has announced compensation of Rs 100,000 per death. If the actual body count turns out to be no more than 100,000, it will end up paying 400,000 bogus claims. That will be Rs 40 billion down the drain.
In New York, over 8000 were estimated initially to have died on 9/11. The official figure later was 2752. In New Orleans, the mayor claimed that more than 10,000 had died. The actual body count turned out to be only 1,163.
Thursday, October 06, 2005
MEDIA: Private TV and radio must get its right
Now that the electronic media have finally joined hands and formed Pakistan Broadcasters Association, their first priority should be to assert the right of private channels to advertising worth billions that is being denied them.
When Pakistan Television was started, the federal government provided funds for its infrastructure and all operational expenses. The advertisements were few in the early days and were inserted only between programs.
PTV did not remain content with government funds. It sought advertising aggressively and introduced commercial breaks within programs, despite strong protest by the viewers. It also persuaded the government to impose a license fee on all TV sets. Fee was also imposed on the owners of VCRs and satellite dishes, even though PTV did not provide any service to them.
PTV claimed to follow the BBC that gets revenue from the license fee but ignored the fact that the domestic service of BBC did not carry any advertising. PTV wanted both advertising revenue and license fee.
During 1990s, the elected governments, being unable to collect enough taxes to meet even their own basic needs, asked the PTV to fend for itself. A managing director was appointed who knew nothing about good television but all about advertising. The result was that programs were reduced to bits that were inserted between interminable commercial breaks.
This undesirable situation could be justified only by the lack of alternative channels for the advertisers. Now, there are more television channels than the advertisers can make viable with their support. And many more are on the way.
In 2004-05, PTV earned Rs 2.2 billion in advertising while the license fee got it over Rs 2.4 billion. Now that the fee is compulsory for everybody and is collected through electricity bills @ Rs 25 per month, PTV no longer has any right to advertising revenue. Only the private channels should get advertising as they have no other source of income. The freedom of media becomes meaningless if the private channels are deprived of a very large part of their due income. The government must provide a level playing field and deny the PTV the double revenue.
In fact, PTV doesn’t need so much money because it does not know what to do with it. It plans to start four regional channels (in addition to “PTV National” already devoted to regional languages) when several private channels are already meeting the need. PTV will only make life very difficult for all of them. When it has already leased out STN’s countrywide network of local TV stations because of its inability to run it, why does it want to waste money on new channels? It also plans to start a DTH service (satellite-based direct-to-home television), which should be a task for the private parties, not for the national television.
Pakistan Television must get out of the mindset that was imposed on it by lack of government funds. Now it should learn to live within its means. Its guaranteed revenue from the license fee will be enough for it as it does not need more than two channels. It will be a great achievement if it can provide quality content for just these two channels, one for entertainment (PTV1) and the other (PTV2) for news and current affairs. What it really needs is a head, who knows all about content but nothing about advertising.
Radio Pakistan should also be free of all advertising, leaving the revenue for the private radio stations. Since it will have no other source of income because its license fee was abolished long ago, the logical course will be to merge Radio Pakistan with PTV. The merger was started years ago, with “Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation” as the proposed name for the new entity. Unfortunately, vested interests sabotaged it. The plan should be revived as the merger will benefit both radio and television – and the people.
When Pakistan Television was started, the federal government provided funds for its infrastructure and all operational expenses. The advertisements were few in the early days and were inserted only between programs.
PTV did not remain content with government funds. It sought advertising aggressively and introduced commercial breaks within programs, despite strong protest by the viewers. It also persuaded the government to impose a license fee on all TV sets. Fee was also imposed on the owners of VCRs and satellite dishes, even though PTV did not provide any service to them.
PTV claimed to follow the BBC that gets revenue from the license fee but ignored the fact that the domestic service of BBC did not carry any advertising. PTV wanted both advertising revenue and license fee.
During 1990s, the elected governments, being unable to collect enough taxes to meet even their own basic needs, asked the PTV to fend for itself. A managing director was appointed who knew nothing about good television but all about advertising. The result was that programs were reduced to bits that were inserted between interminable commercial breaks.
This undesirable situation could be justified only by the lack of alternative channels for the advertisers. Now, there are more television channels than the advertisers can make viable with their support. And many more are on the way.
In 2004-05, PTV earned Rs 2.2 billion in advertising while the license fee got it over Rs 2.4 billion. Now that the fee is compulsory for everybody and is collected through electricity bills @ Rs 25 per month, PTV no longer has any right to advertising revenue. Only the private channels should get advertising as they have no other source of income. The freedom of media becomes meaningless if the private channels are deprived of a very large part of their due income. The government must provide a level playing field and deny the PTV the double revenue.
In fact, PTV doesn’t need so much money because it does not know what to do with it. It plans to start four regional channels (in addition to “PTV National” already devoted to regional languages) when several private channels are already meeting the need. PTV will only make life very difficult for all of them. When it has already leased out STN’s countrywide network of local TV stations because of its inability to run it, why does it want to waste money on new channels? It also plans to start a DTH service (satellite-based direct-to-home television), which should be a task for the private parties, not for the national television.
Pakistan Television must get out of the mindset that was imposed on it by lack of government funds. Now it should learn to live within its means. Its guaranteed revenue from the license fee will be enough for it as it does not need more than two channels. It will be a great achievement if it can provide quality content for just these two channels, one for entertainment (PTV1) and the other (PTV2) for news and current affairs. What it really needs is a head, who knows all about content but nothing about advertising.
Radio Pakistan should also be free of all advertising, leaving the revenue for the private radio stations. Since it will have no other source of income because its license fee was abolished long ago, the logical course will be to merge Radio Pakistan with PTV. The merger was started years ago, with “Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation” as the proposed name for the new entity. Unfortunately, vested interests sabotaged it. The plan should be revived as the merger will benefit both radio and television – and the people.
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