Press Release: Day One
Islamabad (December 1, 2008): Federal Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination, Senator Raza Rabbani, said that the democratic governments in Pakistan and India should not let non-state actors destroy the peace process as both countries are not only committed to peace and development for their people, but also for the people across South Asia. "We should not let non-state actors play with our destiny and should not get caught in the blame game," the Federal Minister added.
He was addressing the inaugural session of the three-day Eleventh Sustainable Development Conference (SDC) titled "Peace and Sustainable Development in South Asia: Issues and Challenges of Globalization" organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), in collaboration with UNDP’s Strengthening Democracy through Parliamentary Development (SDPD), ActionAid, FES and Oxfam, here on Monday.
Mr. Raza Rabbani said that in the present scenario, peace and sustainable development is of paramount importance and hoped that the three-day conference will be fruitful and informative for parliamentarians. He said that he was looking forward to three days of enlightening, enriching, and valuable experience of information sharing and finding solutions for the problems hampering sustainable development.
Elaborating the Government’s security policy, Senator Rabbani stressed that we need to look at what the Government has contributed towards the 'three Ds': dialogue, development and deterrence to cope with the 'four Fs': fiscal, fuel, food, and frontier crisis.
In his welcoming address, Mr. H.U. Beg, Chairperson of SDPI’s Board of Governors, highlighted the two-fold role of SDPI as an advisor through research, policy advice and advocacy; and its enabling role in providing other individuals and organizations with resource material to take up sustainable development agendas and activities.
In his introductory speech, Dr. Abid Q. Suleri, Executive Director of SDPI, said that peace, sustainable development and globalization were facing the four "F" crisis: the fiscal, fuel, food and the frontier crisis. Highlighting SDPI's progress during the last year, he said that the Institute’s focus remained on issues like food security, climate change, natural resources management, rewriting history of the Partition, domestic preparedness for trade liberalization and sustainable livelihoods.
Delivering his keynote address on "Challenges of Climate Change for Pakistan", Mr. Shafqat Kakakhel, SDPI’s Adviser on Environment, discussed the severe impacts of climate change and said that there is a need for finding a global solution to the climate change problem and transform this adversity into an opportunity. Given that the IPCC has warned that South Asia is most likely going to suffer the worst consequences of climate change, Mr. Kakakhel said that Pakistan needs to focus on adaptation, development of infrastructure, and renewable energy resources. He said that it's time for the Government of Pakistan to take up this issue in the Parliament. Overcoming this challenge will decisively depend on the quality of research studies on CC impacts, formulation of appropriate policies and their effective implementation through the active participation of all stakeholders. The challenge is huge, but the price of inaction is much higher, he added.
There were three concurrent sessions after the inaugural session on: Climate Change and Food Security; Rewriting History I-The Two Partitions (1947 & 1971); and Managing Conflict through Trade: The Case of Pakistan and India.
In session on "Climate Change and Food Security" Mr. Ali Tauqeer Sheikh from Lead Pakistan, said that due to climate change there will be changes in rain destination and time from monsoon to non monsoon areas and increased floods and soil erosion. Ms Nazima Shaheen from SDPI, presented a paper on “Potential of Sugarcane Organic Farming in Mitigating Climate Change: The Case of Pakistan.” She stressed that awareness should be raised among farmers about organic farming and climate change by involving federal and local agriculture extension departments. The Government should provide subsidies during the conversion period. Presenting the paper on “Climate Change and Food Security Nexus in Pakistan”, Mr. Mohsin Iqbal from Global Change Impact Studies Center, discussed the food security prospects of Pakistan towards the end of this century while taking into consideration other climate-related and climate-independent parameters. Ms Fatima Naqvi from Oxfam spoke on “Climate Change Adaptation and Risk Management in the Context of Pakistan.” The inclusion of climatic risks in the design and implementation of development initiatives is vital to reduce vulnerability and enhance sustainability, she said. Mr. Muhammad Aslam from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture emphasized the impacts of climate change, food system vulnerability and adaptation strategies. Mr. Sahib Haq from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said that due to increase in rainfall, there is a possibility of increase in plant diseases.
In the panel on “Rewriting History I-The Two Partitions (1947 & 1971)”, Mr. Asif Farrukhi said that the Partition of India has been studied and analyzed from several perspectives ranging from the socio-political to the literary. As a subject, it emerges as an important literary theme for the major writers of the period. His paper offered a critique of the most widely held view which categorizes "literature of the riots" (Fasadat Kay Afsaney), especially the evaluation of the work of Saadat Hasan Manto, Urdu's greatest short fiction writer; and, Krishan Chandra by critics of the period including Muhammad Hassan Askari and Mumtaz Shirin. Showing his disagreement over one-sided accounts in recorded history, Mr. Ahmed Salim, a senior research associate of SDPI, said that it is full of biases, state ideologies, untruthfulness and inaccuracies. He said that in order to present unbiased information to our next generations, SDPI launched a research project two years ago titled "Re-writing History: The Two Partitions" that was based on oral accounts and people's perspectives.
Mr. Harris Khalique presenting his paper on "Writing Unfinished Histories: Collecting Narratives on People and Places" said that it is impossible to reconcile and forget the pain and anguish of the Partition; but the two countries of India and Pakistan should be open to discussions and giving vent to their feelings, so that the grievances and misunderstandings do not culminate and result in violent eruptions.
In the session on “Managing Conflict through Trade: The Case of Pakistan and India,” Mr. Siddhartha Mitra from CUTS International was of the opinion that the future path envisioned for Indo-Pak trade is based on synergy between peace dividends and trade dividends: greater trade between the two countries will lead to peaceful relations benefiting economic opportunities. Dr. Shaheen Rafi Khan of SDPI said that India and Pakistan share common historical, ethnic, cultural and religious roots, but certain issues such as lack of strong democratic institutions in Pakistan, the religious divide and other more latent tensions between the two states have restricted trade.
Earlier the Tenth SDC anthology titled "Sustainable Solutions: A Spotlight on South Asian Research" and SDPI's Annual Report were also launched during the Conference.
SDPI Press Release: Day Two
ISLAMABAD Dec.2, 2008: Over-centralized federalism cannot work in the new changing South Asian realities as almost all the countries in the region are undergoing conflicts and new social movements are emerging. Highlighting the appalling human and social development situation in South Asian countries, experts urged governments to collectively and genuinely resolve deep-rooted internal and mutual conflicts causing tremendous negative social, economic, political and environmental effects within and across the region. These deliberations emerged during the second day of the Sustainable Development Conference (SDC) organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) at a local hotel on Tuesday.
In the panel on “Costs of Conflict in South Asia”, Dr. Bishnu Raj Upreti and Ms Sulava Piya from Nepal in their separate papers focused on the consequences of armed conflict in Nepal. Dr. Upreti pointed out that decreasing tourists negatively affected the tourism industry and led to the closure of many hotels, airlines and travel agencies, which aggravated unemployment and increased livelihood insecurity; while Ms. Piya said that internally displaced persons especially girls of 15-25 years, were the hardest hit by conflict and suffered both during and after the war. Mr. Faisal Gorchani of SDPI discussed the Balochistan conflict in Pakistan and shared that despite the controversial annexation of Kalat State with Pakistan in 1947, the federation has not been able to genuinely resolve the grievances of Balochistan and rather carried consecutive military operations to crush resistance movements in the province. He said the conflict has led to tremendous economic, political, socio-developmental and psychological losses. Dr. Nathalene Reynolds, a Visiting Fellow with SDPI, explored the political and ideological implications of the Kashmir issue for India.
Talking about identity politics and minorities, during the “Rewriting History II-The Religious Minorities” panel, Dr. Rasul Bakhsh Rais said that in Pakistan, the relationship between religion and state remains unclear. The question about what type of Pakistan polity should be, whether liberal, democratic or Islamic, evokes different responses, he said. Mr. Ahmed Salim from SDPI said that minorities contributed enormously in saving and protecting the lives of Muslim and Hindu immigrants during 1947 besides voting positively in a crucial election to include Lahore in Pakistan. He proposed the formation of an independent Minority Rights Commission. Mr. Mehboob Sada, Director of the Christian Study Center, urged inter-faith dialogues to build positive relationship between different religious groups. Dr. Tariq Rehman from the Quaid-e-Azam University, Pakistan, deplored that society has a very low-level of acceptance for minority rights. The state policy regarding minority rights should be reviewed, he said, adding that true representative democracy and constitutional politics were the best institutional tools to protect and advance the interests of religious minorities.
In the brainstorming session held in collaboration with Strengthening Democracy through Parliamentary Development on “Democracy: An Agenda for Change”, the majority stressed that democracy was the genuine solution for bringing about change. However, some participants dispelled the idea of democracy arguing that as long as democracy was marred with dynastic politics, feudal and sardari systems, and inequality between the federating units, it cannot bring change. They also highlighted media’s active and effective role for economic empowerment, tolerance and respecting diversity, reconciliation, and redistribution of resources, institutional strengthening, merit and accountability.
Environmental Fiscal Reforms (EFR) are not taken into consideration by policy makers, pointed out Dr. Aurangzeb Khan from the Planning Commission, Government of Pakistan, in the session on “Pro-poor Environmental Fiscal Reforms.” Ms Rebecca Robert from IUCN, Sri Lanka, said that environmental fiscal reforms were one of the measures to bridge the gap between policy formulation and poverty alleviation in relation to environmental improvement. Dr. Usman Mustafa from the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), while discussing the EFR options for safe drinking water highlighted that the water sector has a lot of potential for anchoring EFR initiatives. Ms Mehnaz Ajmal Paracha from SDPI said the fact was that there was lack of coordination and proper implementation of laws and regulations in the country related to the quarrying and mining sector, and there was a need of synergy between EFR policies. Mr. Iftikhar Ahmed also from PIDE stressed engagement with poor communities to deal with issues of solid waste management. The session concluded with emphasis on good governance for environmental sustainability.
At the session on “Energy Sharing across Borders,” Ms Deepti Mahajan from India suggested sharing of renewable energy technologies such as solar and wind energies. She also said that building of electricity grids along the borders of neighboring countries would help transfer electricity. Another Indian researcher, Mr. Shripad Dharmadhikary, emphasized that there was a need to assess the benefits of building dams and simultaneously developing alternative solutions for meeting electricity needs. Dr. Muhammad Imran from Massey University, New Zealand, said that energy production should be shifted from oil to alternative resources. He identified the gaps and contradictions in the energy and transport policies of Pakistan and suggested measures in order to achieve energy targets set in the MTDF, as well as the ambitions of Pakistan Vision 2030. Mr. Moeed Yusuf from the University of Boston, USA, discussed Pakistan’s energy security concerns. He argued that projects like Gwadar and IPI have made the prospects of energy sharing the only sustainable means of ensuring energy security real, and that these ought to remain the focus of South Asian governments. He argued that nuclear energy was a second-best alternative, since it remains economically uncompetitive and politically sensitive. He cautioned against laying too much importance on nuclear energy as a means to energy security for South Asian countries.
The paper of Dr. Mahmood A. Khwaja from SDPI was presented in absentia by Ms Imrana Niazi during the panel on “Civil Society’s Role in Sustainable Development and Peace”. The presentation highlighted civil society’s positive role in national development and urged strengthening their role in order to integrate diversified views and expertise, improve policies, ensure effective implementation and increase ownership of stakeholders. Canada-based Management Analyst, Mr. Faisal Haq Shaheen, highlighted the importance of joint interventions of government and civil society under an institutionalized framework. He was of the view that if government and civil society carry out joint initiatives by utilizing the strengths and resources of each other for the public good, it would enhance the scope and effectiveness of their programs tremendously. Mr. Fayaz Baqir, Director of the Akhtar Hameed Khan Resource Center, Pakistan, underlined the need for establishing a social mechanism at the grassroots level in Pakistan. “This ground-reality based solution will ensure devolution through physical and social surveys, adoption of relevant technical standards under effective standard operating procedures,” he added. Mr. Abdul Rauf Farooqi of Allama Iqbal Open University, Pakistan, called upon the civil society to integrate basic human rights into the sustainable development and help the people to have an astute judiciary. Vice Chancellor of the University of Swat, Dr. Muhammad Rasool Jan, lamented that 2,000 schools have been destroyed in Swat depriving 1,20,000 students from getting education during the ongoing conflict situation. He urged the need for peace and normalcy in Swat.
Research scholars presented multi-pronged strategies for coping with environmental degradation during the session on “Mitigation Options for Unsustainable Development: Pathways to Environmental Sustainability.” Dr. Babar Shahbaz from Pakistan discussed joint forest management and called for a participatory approach for better working relationships in the forestry sector. He claimed that the mistrust between state and forestry communities is embedded in miscommunication, which can be addressed through raising awareness and mobilizing both stakeholders to reduce environmental degradation. Nepal based researcher, Dr. Bishnu Raj Upreti, said that armed conflict in Nepal has left negative impacts on natural resources and called for new visionary approaches and policies including further research for understating the complexity of conflict. Dr. R. Siva Prasad from India analyzing state-led development approaches in the water shed management sector said modernization and economic liberalization has virtually destroyed the traditional resource management and knowledge systems in the Bundelkhand region, which resulted in failure of development interventions. Dr. M. A. Khalid also from India highlighted the extreme climatic events in the coastal areas of Orissa and various governmental adaptation strategies to counter the situation. He recommended the adoption of planned adaptation strategies to deal with climate change. “What is required is a radical change in the current planned adaptation strategies by encapsulating with livelihood options and efficient modern technologies,” he said.
“In peace lies our survival”: Shams-ul-Mulk
Press Release
ISLAMABAD: (3 Dec 2008) “In peace lies our survival; lack of peace is our doom,” said Mr. Shams ul Mulk, former caretaker Chief Minister of NWFP and former Chairperson SDPI Board of Governors while presenting the keynote address during the concluding ceremony of the Eleventh Sustainable Development Conference titled “Peace and Sustainable Development in South Asia: Issues and Challenges of Globalization” organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in collaboration with UNDP’s project, Strengthening Democracy through Parliamentary Development, at a local hotel on Wednesday.
He stressed the need to provide peace and social justice within and across generations, adding that peace and sustainable development are interdependent and inseparable. Quoting a Russian Nobel Laureate, Mr. Mulk said, “The future cannot be predicted, but it can be prepared for.”
Dr. Abid Qaiyum Suleri, SDPI’s Executive Director said that his organization has a long history of working on peace and sustainable development issues not only for Pakistan, but also for South Asia, which faces numerous challenges of globalization. “Through this Conference remarkable research studies and recommendations have emerged which will now help us move further in achieving SDPI’s mission,” he said.
Mr. Rashid M. Titumir, an economist and analyst associated with the ActionAid, Bangladesh, stressed that in order to achieve peace and sustainable development in the region there is a need to attend to compulsive tyranny on an international level, and on a national level, externalizing of internal contradictions and escapism of the ruling elite.
Importance of the services sector as the fastest growing sectors of the global economy was highlighted during the book launch of “Domestic Preparedness for Services Trade Liberalization: Are South Asian Countries prepared for further Liberalization?” The publication covers critical dimensions of trade negotiations by Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Ms Mehnaz Ajmal Paracha from SDPI, co-author of the book identified intangibility and un-storability as main impediments to the services trade. Mr. Qasim Ali Shah, from the Government of Punjab, highlighted the non-availability of data as major constraints hindering the formulation of effective policy and regulatory frameworks. Mr. Shafqat Munir of ActionAid emphasized the social costs of liberalizing services, while Mr. Ashraf Hayat, Federal Secretary, Board of Investment, pointed out that policy formulation was a sensitive matter needing time, extensive research and analysis.
In the session on “National Sustainable Development Strategy (NSDS)”, Dr. Safdar Sohail from the Foreign Trade Institute of Pakistan, said that the formulation of a NSDS for Pakistan would bring about a new paradigm shift in development with a more holistic approach including revival of “greenism and localism”. Mr. Naseer Gillani from the Planning Commission, Government of Pakistan, identified regional disparities, ambitious policies, poor implementation mechanisms and crisis of leadership as key challenges to Pakistan progressing towards human and social development. Mr. Akram Zaki, former Secretary General of Foreign Affairs, stressed the importance of human capital and social security while drafting the NSDS, PSRP II and Vision 2030. Mr. Faisal Gorchani of SDPI underlined the need of institutionalization of a practical and pragmatic governance mechanism in the country, as opposed to the current approach of addressing the symptoms instead of looking for the cure.
In the session on “Sustainable Forest Management: Exploring Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in South Asia”, Ms. Safiya Aftab presented the paper “Arresting Timber Logging in Pakistan: A Market-based Approach”. She said that a large part of the timber trade was based on smuggling. Mr. Faisal Haq Shaheen from Canada emphasized the creation of an enabling environment where pilot project territories, accountability frameworks for authorities and community based monitoring are factored into long term decision making. Dr. Shaheen Rafi Khan from SDPI, emphasized the need for a well-defined strategy and a regulatory framework saying that absence of institutional checks allows firms to default on their corporate social responsibility mandates. Dr. Urs Geiser, from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, said that the rules and legislations related to the forestry sector should be addressed on priority basis.
The panel, “Imagine a New South Asia”, focused on the four major challenges facing South Asia, i.e., economic issues, governance and democracy, peace and justice, and natural resources management. Mr. Karamat Ali of PILER, Ms Mehnaz Ajmal Paracha from SDPI, Mr. Zulfiqar Halepoto of Sindh Democratic Forum and environmentalist Mr. Arshad Abbasi made presentations. They lamented that the region was home to the world’s largest poor, undernourished and most militarized and thus faced multiple challenges such as depleting natural resources and increasing population; climactic degradation and terrorism. “There is a dire need to evolve creative solutions to counter these worsening problems including the fast melting of Siachen glaciers through demilitarization and formation of a South Asian parliament as a collective and representative mechanism of South Asian countries to foster cooperation in the fields of mutual interest,” they underlined.
The panel on “Environmental Degradation, Social Marginalization and Institutional Dynamics of Vulnerability in the case of Natural Disasters” was addressed by Dr. Shaheen Rafi Khan of SDPI, Dr. Shaukat Farooq from NUST, Mr. Fateh Marri of ActionAid, Mr. Nripal Adhikary from Nepal and Mr. Moeed Yusuf from the United States. It was mutually agreed that natural hazards become severe disasters when they are not managed properly. The major issue is not the absence of policy frameworks, rather effective implementation, they said. The need for increased coordination and integration among different public bodies, non-governmental organizations and most importantly the people who bear the brunt of natural calamity was underlined. They stressed upon the adoption of a rights-based approach, which helps to decrease vulnerability, while increasing the capacity of people to deal with disasters.
In the session on “Micro-credit and Gender, Dr. Siva Prasad from India, said that micro credit was one of the best ways to tackle poverty as monthly incomes and decision-making powers of recipient women increases substantially. Dr. Shaheen Rafi Khan from SDPI pointed out that banks were reluctant to give loans to poor women because of high administrative costs and risk of loan default. However, rural support programs were community friendly and created an entrepreneurial culture, he said. Mr. Moeed Yusuf from USA suggested that the public and private sector should collaborate to overcome micro credit related problems pointing out that corrupt government policies were the root cause of the problem.
Side-effect
Peace and South Asia
Friday, December 05, 2008
by Harris Khalique
The 11th annual conference organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Islamabad, coincided with the immediate aftermath of the highly condemnable Mumbai terror attacks. Ironically it was titled "Peace and Sustainable Development in South Asia." For the past ten years, scholars, practitioners and students from Pakistan and abroad debated ideas and options around multiple subjects within the overarching theme. Organisation of such events with consistency each year in Pakistan has to be widely appreciated. SDPI is one of the few independent institutions dedicated to research and analysis in Pakistan and facing the consequences of trying to create an island of knowledge in the sea of ignorance by not getting sufficient support. Perhaps the young, dynamic researcher, Dr Abid Suleri, who heads the institution, and his team need to shed their scholarly humility and cry out loud and challenge the consciousness of all stakeholders, telling them why institutions like SDPI need to be nurtured.
This year's conference included discussions varying from rewriting history to climate change in South Asia. Issues surrounding military tensions, trade imbalances and cultural cooperation were highlighted within the caucuses or over coffee breaks and lunches. There was an earnest desire in all present to have a peaceful South Asia where people could live peacefully and prosper economically. The premise of Partition was to bring peace to the Indian Subcontinent, not to enter into a perpetual conflict. Problems in thinking and approach lie on both sides of the border since the very beginning. As usual, continued friction makes the common people suffer the most. Warmongering, heightening tension, sensationalising events, levelling allegations, etc., makes it a field day for hawks on both sides. The adrenalin level is so high among so-called experts in Pakistan serving narrow-minded interests that it makes them think they are the descendants of Afghan invaders of yesteryears who would have the final battle in Panipat. On the Indian side, there is a barge of unproven allegations against Pakistan and half-cooked evidences being aired from television channels and printed through newspapers whipping up the emotions of their audiences.
Pakistanis need to realise at all levels--state and non-state actors, civil society and media--that India is our immediate neighbour, and the country with which we share our lives and culture the most. We belong to South Asia--neither Central Asia nor the Middle East. Indians have to come to terms with the fact that Pakistan should not be pressured into becoming a compliant, denuclearised state serving as a consumer market to the Mittals, Tatas, Birlas and Bajajs. A strong, democratic and friendly Pakistan would suit India more and bring prosperity to the region. The divide is kept illuminated by the terror attacks on both sides, both real and perceived support to insurgencies within each other's countries and, more recently, by not being able to address water disputes in time. Both countries are marred by poverty, hunger, injustice, a caste- and class-ridden social fabric and religious frenzy. If we start thinking in terms of the working classes and marginalised millions in both countries, the approach towards solving mutual disputes would thoroughly change.
The last part of the book that I jointly wrote with my Indian friend Rohini Kohli includes Anna Akhmatova's poem, "Why is this age worse…?"
Why is this age worse than earlier ages?
In a stupor of grief and dread
have we not fingered the foulest wounds
and left them unhealed by our hands?
In the West the falling light still glows,
and the clustered housetops glitter in the sun,
but here death is already chalking the doors with crosses,
and calling the ravens and the ravens are flying in.
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