The plethora of protests from many of those named in the NRO list has caused the question to be revisited: Why were only 248 names revealed from the total of over 8,000? Can one be sanguine in the light of the chorus of protest from those proclaiming either their innocence or denying they got any relief from the NRO about the criteria used for this selection? Law Minister Afzal Sindhu, who announced the list in a press conference, is being assailed for issuing a faulty list. Were all the cases of the names outed properly vetted and reviewed? At the very least, the honourable minister should clarify.

The PPP leadership is reported to have asked its ministers named in the list to resign voluntarily so as not to be come a liability for the government, failing which they may be asked to tender their resignations. President Asif Ali Zardari’s example is being quoted to such worthies, the argument being that if he could face jail and the cases against him in the courts, why not all others? The president is reported to be sticking to his guns in office, and to be prepared to fight out his cases again, if any are reopened, once he leaves the presidency. Certain other ministers accused of corruption in the present tenure are being asked to defend themselves before the media or vacate their ministries. The PPP has left the decision about the course to be followed by its ally MQM to the party itself. Meanwhile the first resignation has come in the wake of the NRO list. Saeed Mehdi, ex-bureaucrat and currently adviser to Nawaz Sharif, has resigned in protest against the inclusion of his name. Only the days ahead will indicate whether others will follow. Shahbaz Sharif has called for the beneficiaries of loan write-offs also to be outed, his thrust being the allegations against the former ruling PML-Q. However, this could prove a double-edged sword since the Sharifs too have been in the dock in the past concerning loan write-offs and/or manipulation of bank loans.

It is necessary to restate that the NRO was promulgated on the one hand because Musharraf was immeasurably weakened by the lawyers’ movement amongst other reasons, and on the other because the late Benazir Bhutto negotiated her and her party’s re-entry into politics from her self-imposed exile. Arguably, that re-entry weakened the dictator even further, allowing the space to open up for the Sharifs too to return from exile without fear of again being deported from the airport of their arrival. The two mainstream parties had agreed in the Charter of Democracy to forego the politics of confrontation and victimisation that had characterised their rivalry during the decade of the 1990s. Now, it is for the respective parties and the conscience of all those named to chart a course that salvages some credibility and integrity for the political class, thereby ensuring the survival of the present democratic dispensation.

Sadly, the latest furore once again threatens to sidetrack the country from the most urgent task at hand, the struggle against the terrorists, a struggle that requires unity and consensus across the board, not point-scoring and glee at opponents’ difficulties, a glee that could turn sour if the anti-democratic lobby succeeds in bringing the whole edifice crashing down once more. *

Second Editorial: A proud moment

Pakistan has produced its first JF-17 Thunder multi-role combat aircraft, which has been handed over to Pakistan Air Force (PAF). China and the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) have jointly developed the fighter jet. At the rolling out ceremony yesterday, Prime Minister Gilani congratulated the nation on this historic achievement and said that this day (November 23) would be remembered “as a landmark in the history of Pakistan”. It is indeed a moment of pride for the Pakistani nation that the country has produced its first indigenously assembled fighter jet.

The JF-17 was originally designed to be a simple and less costly solution for replacing obsolete aircraft. It evolved into an advanced aircraft after the incorporation of modern features and technologies recommended by the PAF. Though the JF-17 Thunder is not a state-of-the-art aircraft like the F-16 but to assemble such an aircraft with the help of our Chinese friends is an achievement in itself. Self-reliance in the defence sector is a step in the right direction. Apart from cutting edge weaponry, the air force also requires medium type of technology. By producing indigenous aircraft, Pakistan would be saving a lot of money and would not have to depend on countries like the US in the future. In the past, we have had to lose a lot of money when the US backed out of its F-16 deal with us. If we continue to produce more aircraft like the JF-17, we can eventually become capable of producing even advanced aircraft. This joint venture with the Chinese has got our people trained, their engineering skills have been improved, and it has also helped bring in technological know-how. The benefits of this collaboration are undeniable. It is indeed a very good thing that in a relatively short time we have been able to achieve this. We now need to look at the future. A substantial part of our defence research budget should now go into the exploration of other such ventures in order to develop more defence weaponry and make our armed forces more self-reliant. By doing this we would be cutting down on our expenditure on such big-ticket items and in the long run this could lead to a cutting down of the defence budget, the savings from which could be used for the development sector in Pakistan. *

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