Nuclear powers can count too!

Thank you all for your replies.

Two issues come to mind upon initial reflection. First, the distaste for imported remedies brought up by my friend amaniar (can I say ``father``?, old school joke, the ignorant need not bother). Second, the inability of intellectuals - more specifically expatriate intellectuals - to take any real actions, other than just think.

In response to the first, I can only say that an idea is as strong as its underlying logic. It does not matter from whence it came, but only where it may take us. Sure, western democracy is an alien concept to the subcontinent. But, to be rather plain, no one who can afford it will turn down a bi-pass surgery in the west should he/she suffer a stroke. Ideas are strong because their application may be universal, not because they have some illustrious legitimizing lineage.

As for the second, let me say that the issue is quite comlex. I`ll relate a analogy that a friend of mine related to me when I mentioned my own fears that an expatriate intellegensia is impotent at best. A light-house cannot go to every ship and show it the right path. It is only when a captain of the boat has the good sense to seek out the light-house that he/she may benefit from the illumination that it offers. That is how I am increasingly inclined to think about these issues. We all do whatever little we can in our own ways. It is all like a trickle into the occean. While we may not be able to free ourselves from our moorings to a safe financial future and succumb to passionate urges to dive into the occean in order to banish disarray, we (expatriates) can do much all the same.

Also, I thought I`d mention to those of you who took an interest in the article, to check out some websites maintained by the PEASANT`S LANDLESS MOVEMENT in Brazil. Just add those keywords onto your browser search engine and you`ll be sure to find something. There are plenty of similarities between the accounts of Latin American countries and Pakistan, and happily these problems have solutions...

--

Mohammad Ali Syed

Re: Anita Zaidi # 7

It was really refreshing to read the stats you listed! Nothing has changed in Pakistan, but then again why should it?

Winston Churchill once said that the first casuality of war is always the truth. Well, in Pakistan not only have we killed the truth, we have also managed to bury it where no one can ever find it! The body of Pakistan has become embalmed in lies, which wrap it like so many bandages. It is no wonder that no one wants to remove the wrappings in fear the body will crumble to dust if it is exposed to the elements!

Mohammad Ali Syed,

You bring up the very important point of accurate enumeration of the population as one way of dismantling the stranglehold of the feudals, because it will show that a much more significant portion of the population is now urban. That was the hope with the 1998 census. Note that I say `was`, b/c our feudal friends are also very aware of this possibility. You also very astutely wonder why the census hasn`t been released until now, after all the hype.

In fact, after much prodding, the GoP did release the gross counts to certain development agencies it was seeking loans from. According to these numbers, our population mix of rural/urban has largely remained unchanged in the last 17 years (I`ve listed the figures below) - the overall urban population only increased by 4%, from 28.3 to 32.5%. Demographers and economists looking at the data immediately suspected data tampering and asked Islamabad to release raw data, or at least more details - a request that they fielded. I last tried to get this 3 or 4 months ago, and then I gave up. You can send a faxed request and see what happens.

Population Census Organization
Statistics Division
Government of Pakistan
(fax) 9251-822396

Here`s what I have (obtained from what they sent to World Bank)

PROVISIONAL RESULTS OF FIFTH POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUS HELD IN MARCH 1998

From Table incorporated in point 13

Total Pakistan Population (000)
1981: 84254
1998: 130,580

NWFP: 1981:11061
1998: 17555

FATA: 1981: 2,199
1998: 3,138

PUNJAB: 1981: 47292
1998: 72585 (annual population growth rate was 2.74 in 1981, and 2.55 in 1998)

SINDH: 1981: 19029
1998: 29991 (annual population growth rate has decreased most remarkably from 3.56 in 1981 to 2.71 in 1998)

BALOCHISTAN: 1981: 4332
1998: 6511 (annual pop growth rate again shows marked decrease from 7.09 % to 2.42 %)

ISLAMABAD: 1981: 340
1998: 799

URBAN PROPORTIONS (from table incorporated in point 16)

1981 1998
PAKISTAN 28.3% 32.5%
NWFP 15.1 16.9
FATA 0 2.7
PUNJAB 27.6 31.3
SINDH 43.3 48.9
BALOCHISTAN 15.6 23.3
ISLAMABAD 60 65.6

You can work out the actual number of people from the counts given above. For example, according to this census, there are 14.6 million people in urban Sindh, and 22.7 million in urban Punjab, but 15.3 million in rural Sindh, and 49.9 million in rural Punjab.

AZ

Mohammad Ali Syed,

You bring up the very important point of accurate enumeration of the population as one way of dismantling the stranglehold of the feudals, because it will show that a much more significant portion of the population is now urban. That was the hope with the 1998 census. Note that I say `was`, b/c our feudal friends are also very aware of this possibility. You also very astutely wonder why the census hasn`t been released until now, after all the hype.

In fact, after much prodding, the GoP did release the gross counts to certain development agencies it was seeking loans from. According to these numbers, our population mix of rural/urban has largely remained unchanged in the last 17 years (I`ve listed the figures below) - the overall urban population only increased by 4%, from 28.3 to 32.5%. Demographers and economists looking at the data immediately suspected data tampering and asked Islamabad to release raw data, or at least more details - a request that they fielded. I last tried to get this 3 or 4 months ago, and then I gave up. You can send a faxed request and see what happens.

Population Census Organization
Statistics Division
Government of Pakistan
(fax) 9251-822396

Here`s what I have (obtained from what they sent to World Bank)

PROVISIONAL RESULTS OF FIFTH POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUS HELD IN MARCH 1998

From Table incorporated in point 13

Total Pakistan Population (000)
1981: 84254
1998: 130,580

NWFP: 1981:11061
1998: 17555

FATA: 1981: 2,199
1998: 3,138

PUNJAB: 1981: 47292
1998: 72585 (annual population growth rate was 2.74 in 1981, and 2.55 in 1998)

SINDH: 1981: 19029
1998: 29991 (annual population growth rate has decreased most remarkably from 3.56 in 1981 to 2.71 in 1998)

BALOCHISTAN: 1981: 4332
1998: 6511 (annual pop growth rate again shows marked decrease from 7.09 % to 2.42 %)

ISLAMABAD: 1981: 340
1998: 799

URBAN PROPORTIONS (from table incorporated in point 16)

1981 1998

PAKISTAN 28.3% 32.5%
NWFP 15.1 16.9
FATA 0 2.7
PUNJAB 27.6 31.3
SINDH 43.3 48.9
BALOCHISTAN 15.6 23.3
ISLAMABAD 60 65.6

You can work out the actual number of people from the counts given above. For example, according to this census, there are 14.6 million people in urban Sindh, and 22.7 million in urban Punjab, but 15.3 million in rural Sindh, and 49.9 million in rural Punjab.

AZ

This response is an email to a friend of mine who had asked my opinion on Mohammad Ali`s article. Enjoy ...

Actually that would be Mohd Ali Syed, our other friend from school. However, I do have some views about his plea to our venal and putrid government. No doubt decentralization is a wonferful idea .... Just ``distribution of power`` is probably the most efficient way of bringing us closer to achieving our ``objectives of the Pakistan Resolution.`` A simple analogy would be a computer network which runs so much more efficiently in a distributed environment. Every object has a certain allocated task to perform, with no particular object being given more than its share of workload. In the event when an object cannot perform its tasks efficiently enough, it is replaced or enhanced, by a newer, more capable object, without having any affect on the over all performance of the system.

In my view Mo`s suggestion of decentralization of power is a bright idea, but his suggestion of achieving it is not. It is a grave but honest admission that Pakistan is not yet ready for a pure democratic system. Our populace, and their ideologies are plagiarized. Throughout our 51 year history we have fed and leached off from the West. We have assumed that what works for the fair-skinned westerners ought to work for us also. We have disregarded our roots, our biases, our strengths and weaknesses, and have blindly followed the west into gradual degradation. Don`t get me wrong .... Democracy is a very noble principle. However, both it`s strengths and weaknesses are reflective in the fact that it gives one considerable leeway in the act of decision making. Often this room to exercise one`s freedom is more than the average Pakistani can bare. Just like a child has to be told right from wrong, an average Pakistani must be guided towards achieving national success. Decentralization is a propitous venture, but it`s effects can only be reaped if it is regulated. I`m not proposing an anti-democratic/socialistic regime, but a well-regulated, decentralized balanced economy. Mohd Ali, in his article, agrees that our feudal landlords engage in ``anti-competitive practices.`` From his inference, we can imagine how impotent local governmental officials are when it comes to `dealing` with the likes of such powerful agricultural maganates as Jatois, Chaudhri`s and Malicks, without strong statutory support. The only sure way of maintaining a monitory equitable populace in Pakistan is to enact anti-monopolistic laws, and then make sure that they are then maintained. I guess Mo`s article was a bit more pragmatic in that he only expects the government to conduct a simple census, while I`m advocating a widerspread embryonic overhaul. Perhaps that`s why I`m a better computer programmer, and he, a better

lawyer ....

Feroz:

Yaar, the problem is not new. Those who think, cannot act and those who act .......!

Tangent: In an earlier thread someone took us (those who think aloud here) to task , suggesting change is Pakistan will only come from those who live there.

Yes, agreed. The change must come from there. No amount of backyard thinking can bring the change by itself.

But, (here is my tuppence) the change must come collectively. The disapora Pakistanis and those who live there can and must collectively bring about the change. We must continually explore avenues to bring this about. Collectivity has a strength not to be easily ignored.

regards,

Re: Temporal

I agree with you completely. The issues raised in this article deleve straight into the heart of the problems confronting Pakistan.

I have raised this question before and I will only add that as Pakistanis we must now start a national debate, which seeks to answer these and other questions impacting the future of Pakistan.

In saddness, this issue will over looked in the in the midst of cricket and Sethi`s arrest. It is highly tragic, because we need to confront these questions and not shy away from them!

Mohammad Ali Syed:

Refreshingly originial and analytical! Am afraid it will not get the attention it deserves now. Sethi for some and the World Cup for others will take away the focus that should be directed to this.

Perhaps that time for just and equitable distribution of power is no longer there. The cancer in body politic has spread beyond simple solutions.

regards

``Unless our rulers decide to distribute power justly and according to the established principles of modern democracy, the objectives of the Pakistan Resolution of 1940 will remain a dream.``

That is the crux of the problem; equal and fair distribution of power in Pakistan!