PRESIDENT Pervez Musharraf in a light mood on Sunday told Pakistanis at Kuwait that he was almost idle as the elected Government was looking after the affairs of the state. The ground situation is however totally different. President has a long and tall agenda to pursue. He held detailed negotiations with Kuwait’s International Investment Group on Sunday to persuade them in investing in a variety of projects in Pakistan. The group has indicated it would invest close to one and a half billion U.S. dollars in energy and other sectors in Pakistan including a crude oil refinery critically needed to bridge the supply-demand gap of finished petroleum products. President Musharraf plans to meet potential foreign investors so as to personally convince them that Pakistan is an investment-friendly country and that local and foreign investors would be facilitated at all levels. A developing country like Pakistan needs investment in high tech industries to reduce dependence on imports. We continue to face trade deficit and with increased foreign investments and enhanced exports Pakistan’s rapid economic development is assured thereby resulting in raising the quality of life for the masses.
President Musharraf has been at the helm of affairs for the past over six years. He realizes that Pakistan critically requires big dams to store millions of acre feet of water which flows into the sea. The mega dams such as Kalabagh or Bhasha could, if constructed, provide additional irrigation water for increased agricultural production, additional power for industry, agriculture and homes, and make up for the deficiency of water storage capability of Tarbela and Mangla Dams which is gradually reducing due to silting. The Dam issue has been unnecessarily politicised. President General Ziaul Haq also wanted to take a decision to go ahead with building of Kalabagh Dam but for a variety of reasons he could not do so during his eleven years rule. President Musharraf appears determined to act in the supreme interests of Pakistan. He has allowed a national debate on the big dam issue and it seems critics of the big dam are getting gradually convinced that Pakistan could not afford to wait any longer. Very soon President will announce a decision on the issue.
President is committed to his policy of enlightened moderation. Despite attempts on his life, he continues to fight terrorism, extremism and militancy. The people are beginning to realize that the soft image of our country needs to be projected. Impressed by his role as head of a state which is in the frontline of war on terror, the international community has demonstrated generosity in rushing supplies for the millions of earth-quake survivors. The recently held International Donors’ Conference where commitments for grants and assistance more than exceeded our requirements for rehabilitation and reconstruction demonstrated world’s trust in his ability to deliver. President Musharraf also attaches high priority to women’s increased participation in national life. His decision to appoint a woman economist form rural Sindh to the highest office in the banking sector has been widely hailed including the Treasury Members and the Opposition parties. President though professionally a soldier has turned out to an excellent democrat who wants to carry along all provinces and people of different shades of opinion.
On the foreign policy, President’s deep involvement is quite pronounced. The continuing peace process involving Pakistan and India has already helped changed the entire scenario in the sub continent. Tension has since replaced understanding. President wants peace for which he is ready to go extra miles to settle the thorny dispute over the future of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. With his involvement in all areas of vital national importance, President’s hands are full. With his commitment to Pakistan, things should change for the better for the succeeding generations.
 

Montreal talks

Now at just over the halfway point of the 10-day UN climate change talks in Montreal, there has been a freeze in the positions of the two sides. While there is hardly a single qualified climate specialist, or anyone else for that matter, who believes the earth’s surface is not warming, the big question which Montreal will most likely fail to answer is how dangerous that warming is and how dangerous it will ultimately be to the planet and its inhabitants.
There is little doubt that rising levels of industrial pollution are unnaturally enhancing the greenhouse effect; in this phenomena, increasing amounts of heat are trapped near the earth instead of escaping into space. The main causes of the effect are the burning of fossil fuels — oil, coal and gas — as well as changes in land use. The consequence of increasing carbon dioxide and other pollutant levels, the worst case scenarios suggest, will be higher than average global temperatures which translate into unpredictable weather and rising sea levels.
The skeptics, however, are not even close to pressing the panic button. Some say human influence on earth’s climate is negligible, and that isolating greenhouse gas levels in an immensely complex natural system is meaningless. Others insist the greenhouse measurements are flawed and predictions based on them unreliable. Yet others believe a warmer world would be better for most of us.
The debate as to who is closer to the truth makes it difficult to create a worldwide consensus on climate control, not least because of the sheer cost of cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which commits rich countries to reducing emissions, does not require developing countries to cut theirs. For them, cuts in emissions might have significant social costs in slowing the growth that feeds economic development, creates jobs and helps propel the poor out of poverty.
The big irony is that, in their haste to move forward, the countries which are not overly concerned with climate control and would sidestep the issue for short-term economic gains could in fact be helping weather patterns to change — producing more heat waves, droughts, floods and violent storms which are the very factors that will ultimately harm the forward economic movement they originally sought.
For now — and despite Montreal and the 10 other climate conventions since they began at the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992 — economic aspirations will probably win out. On the really big questions — whether there should be a binding treaty post-Kyoto, and whether developing nations should be subject to any targets at all — little progress is likely. The growing alarm about the potential impact of climate change is not something that can be pushed aside and ignored. That would only add to the danger and peril. A prudent look at all the relevant data and statistics with a careful analysis to follow would be the wisest and most desirable step.

—Arab News