Richard Holbrooke, Special United States Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, returned to this country after a considerable interval if one takes into account his earlier frequent visits to the region. His absence from the scene had given birth to some wild speculations that his confrontational approach in Afghanistan made him unsuited to carrying out his terms of reference.
For those who may have considered his approach to Pakistan less confrontational, it is relevant to look at the causes behind the recent rise in public ire against what is considered as US recalcitrant actions.
These include (i) the recent rise in the number of drone attacks after the suicide attack in Khost on CIA headquarters from where the drone attacks were launched; (ii) the general belief that US diplomatic and non-diplomatic staff are violating Pakistani laws; (iii) the continuing US policy to outsource security of its diplomatic missions abroad with the general perception in Pakistan that the infamous Blackwater, under the guise of another name, is operating in this country; and (iv) last but not least, the recent decision of the Obama administration to include Pakistan in the list of 14 countries whose nationals visiting the US would be subjected to humiliating body searches.
Holbrooke did not offer any radical solution to these issues. Or, in other words, a status quo on all the above concerns voiced repeatedly by the Pakistani people is expected.
However, Holbrooke did not arrive in this country without a bag of goodies in an effort to mitigate growing criticism against the Obama administration's foreign policy with respect to this region that is seen as toeing the same line as that followed by the neo-conservative George W. Bush.
He, once again, highlighted the extent of the US financial assistance to this country through, not only the one billion dollar pledge made in April 2009 under the auspices of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan (though this amount is not seen as over and above the 1.5 billion dollar annual assistance under the Kerry-Lugar bill for seven years) but, also on how the US government intends to spend this amount.
Given the state of our appalling energy sector, Holbrooke added that his government will provide a grant of 16.5 million dollars to improve the operating capacity of Tarbela Dam. Those optimists in the Ministry of Water and Power, who were expecting a massive US assistance to build mega-dams in this country enabling the government to produce cheap electricity must be disappointed.
However, the Pakistani government must accept blame for its continued failure to attract foreign assistance to this sector. While the present government has been at pains to blame the energy supply shortfall on the failure of the Musharraf government to invest adequately in the sector, yet there are three equally relevant reasons for the massive loadshedding that continues over twenty-two months after the present government took over control.
The rising inter-circular debt continues to compromise the capacity of the energy sector to pay for the crude oil imports, an issue that was recognised by the government in November 2008 when a Letter of Intent (LoI) was submitted to the International Monetary Fund. Pakistan State Oil recently sent an SOS to the government to pay off 66 billion rupees on an emergent basis, or else face further loadshedding.
Second, rental power projects became controversial after the Ministry changed the terms of reference after the tender was floated. This has understandably resulted in a low level of confidence in the transparency of the awarding process. And finally, Ecnec and the Planning Commission appear to be engaged in a futile activity by approving energy projects which are not being prioritised by our cash-strapped government.
The situation brings to mind what Shakespeare said aptly in Julius Caesar: "The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves if we are underlings." It is hoped that the government takes appropriate measures to deal with the energy crisis that continues to plague our productive sectors, as well as the general public.
The Water and Power Ministry must launch a comprehensive home-grown plan, and there are many such plans gathering dust in its cupboards and the Finance Ministry must divert the bulk of its resources, as well as provide sovereign guarantee, where appropriate, to implementing this plan. It is unfortunate that the single-minded commitment to resolving the energy crisis just does not seem to be on the minds of the executive.
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