Victims of Development

analysis

Alarmism does not helpThe Taliban's accession to the position they occupy today is a logicalculmination of the Pakistani state project as it has been executed since1978By Aasim Sajjad AkhtarOver the last week or so, alarmists have succeeded in creating a senseof imminent doom within the country's liberal elite. I have beenastonished at how many columns and conversations are obsessingabout the Taliban's impending takeover. Needless to say, the mediahas played a big part in spreading panic, but it is also important torecognise that the elite is genuinely worried and that the force of itsreaction is likely to have significant consequences.

livelihood

Victims of 'development'The fishermen of Gwadar are at the receiving end of the policies ofboth the government and the Baloch nationalistsBy Yousuf AzizBalochistan is facing a fresh wave of street protests and armedresistance in the wake of the recent kidnapping and murder of threeBaloch nationalist leaders. In the din and clamour of the ongoingconflict between the Baloch nationalists and the Pakistani state, it iseasy to forget the plight of poorer segments of the Baloch society, whoare weary of both the Pakistani state and the traditional elites of theirareas.

The new East India CompanyThe IMF is playing havoc with our economy and industry, as if toremind us that we are still ruled by a colonial powerBy Huzaima Bukhari and Dr Ikramul HaqThe International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to a privatetelevision channel, will finalise Pakistan's budget for the financial year2009-10 (FY10) in 'consultation' with the country's officials on May 11in Dubai. This confirms an old-age adage that beggars cannot bechoosers. The channel quoted sources in the Ministry of Finance assaying that Pakistan and the IMF would hold talks from May 4 to 11 inDubai to discuss the payment of the third tranche of IMF's loan toPakistan.alth Organisation (WHO), good health is a resource imperative forleading a normal life. It is no surprise then that Pakistan aspires toachieve the social goal of providing equal and adequate healthservices to all its citizens. However, disparities between socioeconomicand physical capacities of different segments of the population pose aserious challenge to the achievement of this goal.

IPRs

Encouraging innovationPakistan has been able to improve its international image by adoptingstrict measures against piracyBy Madiha Mujahid

BACK ISSUES

Pol Eco, NOS, The News International http://jang.com.pk/thenews/apr2009-weekly/nos-26-04-2009/pol1.htm#2

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Individuals and businesses need an economic incentive to invest theirvaluable time and resources in developing and streamlining new ideas,products and creative works. They will only undertake any newventure if they are secure in the belief that they will be able to claimtheir inventions and their efforts as their own legally, and not haveothers trying to pilfer the economic gains arising from their efforts. Itis upon this premise that the concept of intellectual property rights(IPRs) is based. Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of themind. Hence, IPRs are the legal property rights over creations of themind.

Politics of protectionismThere is a growing perception in the developing world that the TRIPSAgreement is only aimed at facilitating the developed worldBy Sibtain Raza KhanWith the global economic integration, politics of intellectualprotectionism has widened the gulf between the developing South andthe developed North, particularly on the issue of intellectual propertyrights (IPRs). This subject matter has created mistrust as well asdisparity between the developing and the developed world, becausethe former feels that it is at the receiving end. Without dueconsideration to the level of development of the South, it is beingforced to follow policy initiatives of the North, which requires IPRs tobe regulated internationally for its own economic growth.

labour

Hoping against hopeIt remains to be seen whether the forthcoming May Day would bringthe promised good news to Pakistani workers or they would continueto suffer in miseryBy Shujauddin QureshiPakistani workers have been suffering hardships for decades due tovarious reasons, such as increased working hours, low wages withoutany proper health and safety conditions, increased trend ofcontractual employments, and restrictions on joining trade unions.Though successive governments have pledged to provide relief to theworkers, none of them has fulfilled its commitments in the regard. Theruling PPP government is expected to announce the country's sixthlabour policy on May 1, to coincide with the International Labour Day,in an attempt to provide better working conditions to labourers in thecountry, as also promised in the party's 2008 election manifesto.

Tying up loose endsThere is an urgent need for establishing the relevance of medicalautopsyBy Dr Arif Rasheed Malik and Khayal KhalilThe concept and scope of health care in this part of the world isthought to terminate with the life of the patient. In case doctors fail toestablish the cause of death during the life of that patient, the quest isabandoned as soon as the patient is lost. The doctors -- as scientists --must enquire into such a 'mystery' and solve it to avoid encounteringit again. However, despite the acknowledged role of medical autopsiesin the prevention of medical errors, they are not carried out inPakistan. This is an irresponsible attitude, because by not trying tolearn we deliberately ensure the repetition of our mistakes, costing noless than somebody's life.

The unmet challenge


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The family planning marketing techniques need a revampBy Naila InayatTurn on the radio in the morning; the first thing that brushes yourears is this annoyingly melodious track Suno Zara Khushi Ki Aahat /Chu Lo Zara Man Ki Chahat. If by any chance you are planning toswitch on the TV for morning news, then better not touch the remote-- the same song, brought to you by Touch Condoms, a product ofGreenstar, is being played there as well!

analysis

Alarmism does not help

The Taliban's accession to the position they occupy today is a logicalculmination of the Pakistani state project as it has been executed since

1978

By Aasim Sajjad Akhtar

Over the last week or so, alarmists have succeeded in creating a senseof imminent doom within the country's liberal elite. I have beenastonished at how many columns and conversations are obsessingabout the Taliban's impending takeover. Needless to say, the mediahas played a big part in spreading panic, but it is also important torecognise that the elite is genuinely worried and that the force of itsreaction is likely to have significant consequences.

The immediate cause of concern for theelite is the 'surrender' represented bythe Nizam-e-Adl agreement. It is argued-- and not necessarily incorrectly -- thatthe Taliban will be emboldened by thegovernment's accession to its demandsin Swat. This apprehension has been borne out by the Taliban'sunchallenged march into Buner. As if all of this were not enough,Maulana Abdul Aziz has been released and restored to his position aschief advocate of Islamic revolution in the federal capital, all in a verydignified manner.

The liberals' worries are obviously shared by many important actors inthe Great Game that is unfolding in the region, including the mostpowerful of them all. Nawaz Sharif has acknowledged that things gocould very awry very quickly if they were allowed to continue as theyhave been doing. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hasmade an impassioned plea to all (presumably civilised) elements torecognise the need for urgent and unified action.

Given that all of these frenzied developments have taken place in thelast week or so, it is hardly surprising that even those who are notprone to alarmism are starting to wonder if the entire house of cardsis indeed about to come crashing down. But even while everyone is upin arms about what is about to happen, there is an increasingly openacknowledgement that the security establishment retains some linkswith the Taliban and others of their ilk. In other words, at least, as faras GHQ is concerned, things are not spiralling out of control likeeveryone seems to be suggesting they are.


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Now there is no guarantee that the great military strategists who havegotten us into this position are not thoroughly deluded about theextent to which they can actually manipulate militancy in their own(perceived) favour. Besides, if the situation is not totally irretrievableat present, it may well be in some months or years if the existingcourse is not dramatically altered. And this is the crux of the matter.In short, I think the seemingly inexorable march of the Taliban mustbe understood as a structural phenomenon, and the alarmists arelikely to simply exacerbate the problem by calling for immediateaction.

When I say structural phenomenon, Iam referring not only to the state'scontinuing commitment to jihad as astrategic policy tool, but also to the factthat the jihadis have cultivatedsignificant pockets of support (evenwhile employing outrageous brutalityand coercion at the same time) by representing themselves as analterative to incumbent state and class power, throughout invoking adivine mandate. Trying to bomb them into submission will serve onlyto make their millenarian mission into a self-fulfilling prophecy andincrease their popularity.

Then there is the question of who exactly is being invoked to rid us ofthe Taliban. If it is true that the army is compromised, then thealarmists are all directly or indirectly asking Washington to take thebull by its horns, so to speak. But that too seems disingenuous giventhat the Pentagon remains the Pakistan army's biggest benefactor.And it does not appear as if that relationship is about to be severedany time soon.

Besides, any objective observer has to acknowledge that until theAmericans leave Afghanistan things are not likely to improve. Andeven while Hillary Clinton waxes lyrical about the Taliban representingan existential threat to Pakistan, American military commanders aretalking up a 'surge' and admitting that the insurgency in Afghanistanis going to get worse in times to come.

It is impossible to do away with the Taliban now just because we areworried that they may soon encroach into our own spaces. It isnecessary instead to recognise that the Taliban's accession to theposition they occupy today is a logical culmination of the Pakistanistate project as it has been conceived and executed since at least1978. As I have repeated ad nauseam on these pages, the stateideology is projected through the educational curriculum, the popularmedia, the systematic dismantling of organic bases of politics, andmany other, structural, factors.

Whether the elite likes it or not, for the majority of commonPakistanis, what is going on in Swat, Buner and Fata, or even inBahawalpur (where jihadis have also made substantial inroads, albeitmuch more surreptitiously than in Pakhtun areas), is very distant.This largely silent majority does not feel alarm or a sense ofimpending doom. In fact, for many people the Taliban are stillromanticised.

This is not a good thing by any means. But it must be understood. It is


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not good enough to curse governments and mullahs for bringingthings to this point. The elite's unwillingness to see the problem forwhat it really is emerges most manifestly in the vigorouscondemnation of the parliament for signing on to the Nizam-e-AdlRegulation bill. In other words, the democratic process for whateverit is worth is considered part of the problem rather than thesolution.

Indeed, it is not recognised that the paucity of the political process hasallowed jihadis to garner the space they have. If one does not likewhat the parliament is doing, then parliamentarians should bechallenged by their constituents. Unfortunately, the parliament andthe people that it represents have never been empowered enough tochallenge the guardians of the 'ideological frontier'. And for this theelite must take at least some of the blame, because it has historicallyexhibited disdain for politics and thereby not framed a nationaldiscourse that addresses causes rather than symptoms, such as theTaliban.

There is much at stake here. One hopes that for the elite this is notonly a question of maintaining a lifestyle of relative privilege. MostPakistanis live in relative deprivation. And the distance between theelite and the people is increasing on a daily basis. If things are tochange in this country -- and it must be reiterated again that there isno quick-fix -- then the elite must decide whether it wants to get itshands dirty or simply wants to invite whoever has the biggest stick towipe out the mullahs, which will in turn ensure that the polarisationbetween the common people and the elite becomes more acute. Inany case, if the Taliban were to march on Islamabad, Lahore andKarachi, one wonders whether the elite would not already be onplanes taking them far away from this blessed land, leaving thecommon people behind to fend for themselves.

livelihood

Victims of 'development'

The fishermen of Gwadar are at the receiving end of the policies ofboth the government and the Baloch nationalists

By Yousuf Aziz

Balochistan is facing a fresh wave of street protests and armedresistance in the wake of the recent kidnapping and murder of threeBaloch nationalist leaders. In the din and clamour of the ongoingconflict between the Baloch nationalists and the Pakistani state, it iseasy to forget the plight of poorer segments of the Baloch society, whoare weary of both the Pakistani state and the traditional elites of theirareas.

The extraordinary violence tends todwarf and hide from public view theeveryday struggles for land andlivelihood that characterise the fate ofthe majority of Balochs today. Thestruggle for the form of Baloch identity,nationhood and sovereigntyovershadows its contents; namely, themany small struggles for livelihood, right to land and provision of civic


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amenities. The movement of the fishermen of Gwadar againstdispossession from their ancestral lands and fishing waters is a case

in point.

The fishermen of Gwadar and nearby coastal communities hail frommed (fishermen) and wado (boat-makers) kinship groups, and occupya lower status position in the local social hierarchy. Some of them areof mixed African-Baloch descent whose ancestors were brought toGwadar as part of the Indian Ocean slave trade and did not have anyformal title to the land that belonged to the more powerful kahodas(local

'big men').

Historically, there were three distinct classes or status groups in theMekran region: 1) the minority ruling elites from Gichki and Kalmatitribes called hakum; 2) the large menial labouring class derogativelycalled hizmatgars (servants, slave-born or slaves); and 3) a broadlayer of society comprising nomads and independent agriculturists thatstood mid-way between the elite and the subaltern classes calledBalochs.

However, as a result of socioeconomic changes and a nationalistawakening since the 1960s, in which the working class and Balochs ofAfrican descent actively participated, older tribal identities and statusdivisions were abandoned in favour of a common Baloch identity. Thisalso resulted in the elevation of the status of fishermen andhizmatgars as social and political equals in the local society. However,material inequalities and vestiges of social prejudice towards them,especially from upper class Balochs, remain to this day.

Before Gwadar's development as a port city, the land near the sea wasa sandy waste of no value for anyone but the fishermen. Because thefishermen had been living there for centuries and had moral claims tolivelihood, it would have been inconceivable for the kahodas to pushthem out despite possessing formal title to the land. This, however,changed with the initiation of the permanent settlement, execution ofthe master plan and construction of the Gwadar deep seaport, becausethe Pakistani government's vision and notion of trusteeship, and ofrights and benefits of fishermen, was different from the local one.

The land near the beach where fishermen lived as well as thetraditional fishing grounds were taken over by the state for thepurposes of the port's construction. Moreover, the waters around theport were declared as a commercial and security zone. Nako KhudaBaksh, a retired boat captain, gets agitated and his eyes become mistywhen he recalls the brutal manner in which they were beaten bypersonnel of the Marine Security Agency (MSA).

"When the construction of the Gwadar port started in 2003, welaunched a protest movement against it, because this venture limitedour access to the fishing waters. But our people were beaten andhumiliated by personnel of the MSA. Later, when we were having ameeting with the district nazim and Gwadar port officials on this issue,our people were fired at by personnel of the MSA, resulting in injuriesto three of them. When we returned from the meeting, our peoplesaid what was the point in holding talks when they were being firedat. On the other hand, police and intelligence agencies dubbed us as


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traitors who wanted the Gwadar port project to fail," he informs.

The prospect of making big money through sale of land to outsiders onbehalf of the wealthy locals (such as mirs, kahodas and motabars)appears to have overridden the traditional concern of respecting themoral claims of tenants, squatters and fishermen. As if this was notenough, other places along the beach, where the fishermen and theirfamilies could have moved to for continuing fishing activities, werealso converted into commercial and industrial real estate.

Instead, the government has been trying to resettle the people livingclose to the Gwadar port to another fishing village, which is about 25km away from the centre of the city where they currently live. TheGwadar Development Authority (GDA) is building a fishermen's colonyand a fishing jetty there, and officials believe that the fishermen willbe better off living there. However, Khudadad Waju, a leader of theMed Ittehad (Fishermen's Alliance), disagrees, and rejects officialclaims of adequate compensation and resettlement of fishermen.

He says fishermen need to be close to the sea to plan their fishingactivities accordingly. "If you travel along the Mekran coastal highway,you will see that fishermen build their huts right on the beach in ahorizontal arrangement, rather than the circular or rectangulararrangement common in the plains. If a fisherman sets out with hisnet and other implements and finds out that the sea is rough, hisentire trip is wasted. If he is close to the sea, he can find outimmediately whether or not to set out for fishing," Waju explains.

Unfortunately, the focus of the GDA, the official agency responsible forurban planning, has been exclusively on the development of newareas on the periphery of the existing localities. In short, thegovernment has neglected the needs of the existing inhabitants ofGwadar. This makes the city a contradiction of sorts: on the one hand,there is the majority of people, mostly local Balochs, whose streetsand neighbourhoods lack proper sanitation, safe drinking water andother civic amenities; while, on the other hand, there are dualcarriage roads, shopping malls and bungalows at the edge of the cityawaiting the future denizens of Gwadar.

The fishermen believe that the government is neglecting their needson purpose to force them to abandon their ancestral lands andrelocate to the periphery of the city near Surbandar. Surprisingly,despite lofty claims, Baloch nationalist parties have devoted little timeand attention to the concerns of the fishermen. The nationalistopposition to Gwadar revolves mainly around the fear of the futureinflux of non-Baloch migrants; land encroachments, misbehaviour bysecurity forces and the looming threat of dispossession facing thefishermen rarely finds mention in their speeches.

It is high time that the federal and provincial government takes noticeof the plight of the fishermen of Gwadar, and plans developmentactivities in the city around their needs and not at their cost. Asconcerns Baloch nationalist parties, they should also take up the causeof the fishermen of Gwadar as an explicit part of their political agenda,rather than trying to feed them on a diet of nationalist rhetoric alone.

(The writer is a graduate student in Social Sciences.)


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The new East India Company

The IMF is playing havoc with our economy and industry, as if toremind us that we are still ruled by a colonial power

By Huzaima Bukhari and Dr Ikramul Haq

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to a privatetelevision channel, will finalise Pakistan's budget for the financial year2009-10 (FY10) in 'consultation' with the country's officials on May 11in Dubai. This confirms an old-age adage that beggars cannot bechoosers. The channel quoted sources in the Ministry of Finance assaying that Pakistan and the IMF would hold talks from May 4 to 11 inDubai to discuss the payment of the third tranche of IMF's loan toPakistan.

It was also reported that the Federal BureauRevenue (FBR) would present to the IMF "anaction plan under which new taxes would belevied in the upcoming budget. Prepared with IMFassistance, the action plan proposes imposition ofnew taxes on the services sector while focussingon audit of taxpayers." Adviser to the PrimeMinister on Finance Shaukat Tareen, State Bankof Pakistan (SBP) Governor Saleem Raza andsenior officers of the FBR would representPakistan during the talks.

The IMF -- or the new East India Company -- has now virtually takenover the Ministry of Finance and FBR. Its role is the same as was thatof the East India Company in the subcontinent, leading to the longBritish colonial rule during which a few thousand foreigners were ableto overpower hundreds of millions of locals. There are strikingsimilarities in the operations of the IMF in Pakistan and those of theEast India Company in the subcontinent vis--vis revenue collection;both are oppressive, tyrannical, unjust and anti-people.

The IMF-dictated policies are reminiscent of the British rule when theEast India Company's henchmen used to go to the abodes of peasantsand snatch most of their produce. According to some historians, theEast Indian Company's tax collectors used to take away one-half totwo-thirds of the crops. Therefore, the peasants' life was mostmiserable during the colonial period. The current Pakistanigovernment, by imposing general sales tax (GST) on everything, evenon salt and agricultural inputs, has resurrected the days of the EastIndia Company.

For more than 150 years, the East India Company (John Company)raised its own armed forces in the British India. The threeadministrative units of India the presidencies of Bombay, Madrasand Bengal each maintained their own army with its owncommander-in-chief. However, the commander-in-chief of thePresidency of Bengal was regarded as the senior officer of the three.These armies were paid for entirely out of the East India Company'sIndian revenues and together were larger than the British Army itself.All the officers were British and trained at military academies inEngland. There were a few regiments of European infantry too, butthe vast majority of the soldiers were natives. The IMF and World


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Bank, in the present day technological era, do not need armies inthousands; even a few people can control an entire nation throughrevenue administration and economic subjugation.

The East India Company destroyed the indigenous industry of thesubcontinent to promote the products of the Queen's England. In thesame manner, the FBR is blocking refunds worth billions of rupees dueto exporters to ensure the success of IMF's agenda: Pakistan's exportindustry in particular and the country's local industry in generalbecome paralysed, and the products of other developing countries fillin the gap. The IMF and World Bank want to capture the markets ofpopulous countries like India and Pakistan. This can only be done ifthe indigenous industries of these countries are either destroyed ortaken over by the multinationals that make the policies of the IMF andWorld Bank.

The IMF has recently ordered Shaukat Tareen to act as the 'chief taxcollector'; he sits in the FBR to supervise that taxes are collectedwhere they are not even due. Similar orders were issued by the EastIndia Company to the local rulers, to act as mansabdars (local revenueofficials) on their behalf. These mansabdars unleashed a reign ofterror on the locals through revenue collection, as is being done bythe IMF's cronies in the Ministry of Finance and FBR these days.Although they are not ashamed of being treated as slaves by the IMF,citizens of Pakistan have a right to agitate against this neo-colonialbehaviour of foreign donors.

It is true that the FBR is facing revenue shortfall of billions of rupees,but does it justify a reign of terror against the taxpayers? In most ofthe cases, taxes are levied unjustly only because no deal could bereached. In cases where taxes are levied in a 'friendly' manner, thereare absolutely no problems! Therefore, the IMF is actually lending ahelping hand to the FBR to penalise the honest taxpayers, becausethose who are 'friends' of tax collectors are fully protected thoughthey are proven tax evaders.

The sovereignty of a state is measured by the power it enjoys inimposing taxes on its people. These taxes are to be used for thebenefit of the less privileged and to ensure general welfare of all thecitizens. On the contrary, we are opening our markets to foreigngoods so that our local industry becomes paralysed. Is thisglobalisation? One wonders how the rulers of the day in Pakistan areoperating. Obviously, they want perpetuation of their rule andperhaps know that this is only possible if they unquestionably followthe commands of their foreign masters, who only want economicbenefits because they are no more interested in subjugating usphysically.

It is painful to note that the FBR, to please its foreign masters, hasresorted to a tyrannical structure of taxation. According to an AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB) study, the tax system of Pakistan, whichwas progressive till 1990, was converted into a regressive regime in1991 with the introduction of massive indirect taxes. As a result,during these 19 years (1991-2009), the tax burden on the pooresthouseholds increased by 17.4 percent, while it declined by 15.9percent for the richest households. The ADB study should serve as aneye-opener for the target-oriented FBR officials, who -- in the frenzyof showing higher figures to their foreign masters -- have putadditional burden of taxes on the poor.


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Pakistan joined the IMF on July 11, 1950. After receivingdisbursements of a few billion dollars in more than 30 installmentsince then, what we in Pakistan have so far seen is increasing poverty,depreciating value of rupee, declining purchasing power, increasingelectricity and natural gas tariffs, declining standard of living, andincreasing unemployment, inflation, de-industrialisation, unequaldistribution of wealth, ethnic tensions, child labour and loss ofsovereignty.

The IMF is bent upon destroying our agriculture sector through theimposition of new taxes, despite the fact that this sector already paysa number of taxes. Do we really need any other proof to show wherethe actual power to levy taxes lies? Our economic subjugation is nowcomplete. We are a nation that is neither dead nor alive. The foreignmasters will not allow us to die until they squeeze out the last drop ofour blood. But this is the result of our wrongdoings in the past.

In fact, our fate was sealed the day we decided not to fulfil ourobligations as a nation. The blame of our own misdeeds can easily beshifted to the IMF or World Bank, but the fact is that we are at thereceiving end only because we opted for losing our sovereignty andindependence. We have no right to blame the IMF or others for thisself-destructive path. We have been moving towards self-annihilationand that is not very far now -- the coming budget will bring moremiseries for the poor segments of society and further debtenslavement for the state!

(The writers, tax consultants and authors of several books, are visitingprofessors at LUMS.)

IPRs

Encouraging innovation

Pakistan has been able to improve its international image by adoptingstrict measures against piracy

By Madiha Mujahid

Individuals and businesses need an economic incentive to invest theirvaluable time and resources in developing and streamlining new ideas,products and creative works. They will only undertake any newventure if they are secure in the belief that they will be able to claimtheir inventions and their efforts as their own legally, and not haveothers trying to pilfer the economic gains arising from their efforts. Itis upon this premise that the concept of intellectual property rights(IPRs) is based. Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of themind. Hence, IPRs are the legal property rights over creations of themind.

The theory behind the promotion of IPRs is simple; if a vigilantand efficient system is in place to protect the interests of differententities, they will be more willing to undertake economic activity,which will in turn result in spikes in the national economy. Ultimately,this will also help in sustaining and strengthening this enhancedeconomic activity through the process of technology creation,


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technology transfer and creativity promotion. This is because in thepresent era of globalisation, if any country wishes to achieve andsustain economic development, it needs to facilitate a competitivedomestic economy, which is based largely on a high-tech research anddevelopment base and resourceful knowledge input.

Individuals and businesses will only be willing to bear research anddevelopment costs if they are guaranteed a financial incentive in theform of being the sole beneficiaries of their undertakings through theprovision of monopoly profits. This is achieved through IPRs byproviding them with exclusive ownership rights to intellectualcreations. Such a move is undertaken to stop others from exploitingthe creator's efforts through checking the ability of others to copy thework or invention. This ensures that the creator is not deprived ofreward and incentive. Some rights (such as patents) requireregistration, while other rights (such as copyrights) ensueautomatically upon the work's creation.

However, despite the undisputable importance of these inalienablerights of the creators, the IP situation in Pakistan was dismal before2005, with the country having gained international notoriety as beingthe hub of cheap optical discs, which were then exported to the rest ofthe world. This had the dual fallout of tarnishing the country'sbusiness image in the international market, as well as adverselyimpacting the consumer's interests in terms of competitive quality andprice.

Keeping in mind the dire need for improving the legal rights availableto the masses and to counter the bad image that was attached to it asbeing an IP violator, the Government of Pakistan took three relateddecisions on April 8, 2005. Firstly, it established the IntellectualProperty Organisation of Pakistan (IPO-Pakistan) as the primaryagency responsible for overseeing the state of IP in Pakistan and totake the required steps to address the issues arising out of thissituation. The core objectives of the IPO-Pakistan are integrating IPmanagement, improving service delivery, increasing public awarenessand enhancing enforcement coordination. The basic purpose forsetting up the organisation was to overcome the institutionalshortcomings fettering the IP situation in the country.

Secondly, it included the Copyrights Ordinance 1962 in the FIA Act1974 to eradicate piracy and provide a shelter to artistic and literaryworks. Thirdly, it enabled the Pakistan Customs to launch a crackdownagainst all trade activities related to the export and import of piratedoptical discs. The last two moves were undertaken with a view tofortifying the IPRs enforcement in the country.

These moves have yielded positive results, both internally andexternally. Internally, the piracy infrastructure has been dismantledand strict legal action has been taken against the perpetrators ofthese illegal activities. Consequently, the supply of pirated softwareand other illegal merchandise has dwindled. Externally too, the movesto enforce IPRs has garnered a positive response from other countries,such as the United States and United Kingdom, which had previouslyraised a massive hue and cry over the deteriorating IP situation inPakistan.

Additionally, Pakistan is also a signatory to the Trade-Related Aspectsof Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement under the World


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Trade Organisation (WTO). This has further propelled the upwardmomentum of the IPRs situation in the country, because under therules and requirements of this agreement, Pakistan needed tostreamline and upgrade its IP infrastructure. To achieve this end, theexisting IP legislation has been improved and new laws have beenpromulgated.

Currently, the IPO-Pakistan is providing a number of IP-relatedservices. These include trademarks, patents, registration of industrialdesigns, copyrights, geographical indication and plant breeder's rights.Trademarks refer to the distinctive signs or symbols used by anindividual, business or other legal entity to distinguish and identify itsproducts or services. In Pakistan, any person wishing to apply for atrademark has to file an application with the Trade Marks Registry,which works like a civil court and hears and decides cases under thejurisdiction of the Trade Marks Ordinance 2001 and Trade Mark Rules2004.

A patent protects original inventions through the grant of exclusiverights for a period of 20 years. It gives the owner the right to preventothers from making, using, importing or selling the invention withoutpermission, However, to successfully procure a patent in Pakistan, it isvital to meet a number of requirements -- the invention must be new,it must have involved an inventive step, it should be capable of beingmade or used in some kind of industry, and it should not be contraryto the law or morality.

Another way to protect IP is to provide registration for industrialdesigns to check their unauthorised copying and imitation, which helpsto promote fair business practices and a wider range of choice for theconsumers. Industrial designs deal with the physical product design ofan article. According to the guidelines provided by the IPO-Pakistan,this may deal with either two-dimensional features, such as patternsor colour, or three-dimensional features, such as the shape or surfaceof an article.

However, exclusive ownership rights are not limited only to the tradesector. Artistic and literary creations also fall under the umbrella ofIPRs in the form of copyrights. Copyright laws gives the creators solerights over their creations, and authorises them to control thereproduction, sharing and displaying of their work. Copyrights comeinto effect the moment the work is created in a permanent form.

It includes literary, dramatic, pictorial, graphic, sculptural,architectural and audiovisual works, as well as sound recordings,lyrics, motion pictures, etc. Copyrights are generally given for theduration of the creator's life plus an additional 50 years. In the case ofa cinematographic work and/or photographs, copyrights exist until 50years after the production of the work.

The issue of copyright infringement has always been a matter of graveconcern for Pakistan, with pirated movies, software, music and booksbeing freely available for sale within the country and also exportedabroad. Finally, the government has woken up to the reality that sucha move was not only hindering free and fair trade, but also invitingthe wrath and censure of other countries. One of the most noteworthydevelopments in the protection of copyrights in Pakistan was thepromulgation of the Copyright (Amendment) Act 1992.


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The ordinance makes certain that firm penalties are put into place foroffenders and that reimbursement is made available to the peoplewhose rights have been infringed. The offences that can incurpenalties include publishing collections or compilations of work thathave been adapted, translated or modified in any manner without thesay-so of the owner of the copyright. According to the ordinance, suchworks might include literary, artistic, dramatic, musical orcinematographic works.

An additional segment that falls under IP protection is thegeographical indication of goods. This refers to that feature of a goodthat denotes the place or country of origin of that product. Normallysuch a move is undertaken so that the specified goods may benefitfrom the positive goodwill of that place, that is, the mention of thegeographical origin of the good would naturally lead to the assumptionthat it is of the highest quality and distinction.

The agricultural sector is also given cover through the promulgation ofthe Plant Breeder Rights Ordinance 2000, which bestows exclusiverights to the developers of a specific new plant variety. This is toencourage the establishment of a viable seed industry that is crucialfor the development of the country's agriculture sector. Therefore, theimportance of ensuring that the creators of original and innovativeproducts, designs, ideas and works are granted sole property rightsover their invention is incontestable. This applies to all segments ofcommercial enterprise as well as other creative, artistic and literaryworks.

By securing their IPRs, individuals and businesses can benefit in anumber of ways; for example, by protecting themselves againstinfringement by others, having the right to use and make theirproducts, earning money by selling them, receiving royalties, etc.Conversely, a failure to do so would lead to the dwindling of theingenious and pioneering industries that drive the national economy,because in an environment where one cannot benefit from the fruitsof one's labour without being exploited, little incentive remains tocontinue with it.

Politics of protectionism

There is a growing perception in the developing world that the TRIPSAgreement is only aimed at facilitating the developed world

By Sibtain Raza Khan

With the global economic integration, politics of intellectualprotectionism has widened the gulf between the developing South andthe developed North, particularly on the issue of intellectual propertyrights (IPRs). This subject matter has created mistrust as well asdisparity between the developing and the developed world, becausethe former feels that it is at the receiving end. Without dueconsideration to the level of development of the South, it is beingforced to follow policy initiatives of the North, which requires IPRs to


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be regulated internationally for its own economic growth.

Being a signatory to the Trade-Related Aspects of IntellectualProperty Rights (TRIPS), Agreement under the World TradeOrganisation (WTO), countries have to establish organisationalinfrastructure for protection of IPRs, which can be categorised in twogroups: industrial property rights and copyrights. The former comprisepatents, trademarks, industrial designs and geographic indication ofsource; while the latter consist of literary and artistic works, such asnovels, poems, plays, films, musical works, paintings, photographs,architecture designs, etc.

There is a growing perception in the developing world that the TRIPSAgreement under the WTO regime is only aimed at facilitatingcountries of the developed world, especially its pharmaceutical andentertainment industries. Developed countries took these steps tomaintain their monopoly on these industries. Nobel Laureate inEconomics Joseph E Stiglitz argues that "it was clear that there wasmore interest in pleasing the pharmaceutical and entertainmentindustries (of developed North) than in ensuring an intellectualproperty regime that was good for science."

As a matter of fact, developed countries vigorously backed theagreement on IPRs, while developing countries did not demand for thesame, during the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffsand Trade (GATT) in 1994. Now, assent to the TRIPS Agreement hasbecome condition to the WTO's membership. Unfortunately, thisagreement, which has given more powers to multinationals thandeveloping countries, was imposed on the developing South withoutconsidering its genuine concerns, such as the level of development.

Like other developing countries, the incentive of opening of markets ofdeveloped countries for its products forced Pakistan to accept the WTOregime. However, Pakistani products failed to attract buyers in thedeveloped world, mainly due to their protectionist measures, such asanti-dumping duties and quality controls. On the other hand, becauseof being a signatory to the TRIPS Agreement, different sectors ofPakistan's economy, especially the pharmaceutical and agrochemicalsectors, are suffering.

Tahira A Sulhari, a social activist, is of the view that a multilateralplatform is being used by multinational companies (MNCs) for theirvested interests. Dr Safdar A Khan, an economist who is associatedwith a reputed private educational institution in Islamabad, points outthat Pakistan -- being a developing country -- is giving more andgetting less as a result of the TRIPs Agreement. "We even had to erecta huge set up in the form of the Intellectual Property Organisation ofPakistan (IPO-Pakistan), which is nothing but an additional burden onour ailing economy," he says.

Prof Pervaiz Bajwa claims that fast progress in science and technologyhas been suffering due to IPR-related issues, and the developing worldis the biggest loser. He argues that criteria for developing countriesshould be different from that for developed countries. "The rationalebehind the TRIPS Agreement is to maintain the monopoly ofdeveloped countries in the field of science and technology. This wouldfurther increase the disparity between the North and the South," saysDr GH Chohan, an economist.


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Munir Ahmed, director of the IPO-Pakistan, tells The News on Sundaythat "though signing the TRIPS Agreement is a pre-condition forbecoming a member of the WTO, there are waivers and exemptionsfor developing countries." When asked about implications of the TRIPSAgreement on Pakistan's economy, he said though the pharmaceuticalsector may suffer because of it, paragraphs 4 to 6 of the DohaDeclaration provide for safety nets in the area of public health inemergency periods.

Undoubtedly, the struggling economies of developing countries arestill facing the adverse effects of the TRIPS Agreement, along withother problems such as technological backwardness, unskilled humanresource and weak infrastructure. For instance, the TRIPS Agreementprotects the interests of Western pharmaceutical giants. Under theagreement, patent right-holding Western pharmaceutical companiesare maximising their profits by selling their drugs at higher pricesdespite lower cost of production. On the other hand, pharmaceuticalcompanies in developing countries are not authorised to produce thesame drugs at lower prices. If a country violates pharmaceuticalpatents by manufacturing generic copies of these medicines, it may bepenalised through economic sanctions.

Khalid Mehmood, chairperson of the Pakistan PharmaceuticalManufacturers Association (PPMA) Committee on the WTO, allegesthat MNCs are forcing WTO officials to increase the period of patentrights from 20 to 40 years under the TRIPS Agreement, which isunjust and unfair because people of the developing world would be themain victims. He maintains that Pakistan also needs to protest againstthe enforcement of patent linkage and data exclusivity or dataprotection, which is required by MNCs, because these demands ofWestern companies are not in the interests of the developing world.

Nevertheless, the manifest objective of IPRs is to protect the industrialproperty, as well as copyrights, of artists, writers and publishers.However, its latent purpose is to safeguard the interests of MNCs ofdeveloped countries. It is rightly argued that IPRs should not beincluded in a trade agreement, because they encompass differentpublic policy issues and consequently create confusion that isexploited by Western economic giants for their vested interests.

Indeed, the IPR regime is a right step; however, both developing anddeveloped countries have differences on this issue because of theirincompatible frame of references, needs and requirements. Like everyyear, April 26 (today) is being celebrated as the World IntellectualProperty Day with the theme of 'Green Innovation'. However, forequitable progress and prosperity in the world, there is a need tocelebrate this day in a way that persuades developed countries to givedue consideration to the reservations of developing countries.

(Email: [email protected])

labour

Hoping against hope

It remains to be seen whether the forthcoming May Day would bring


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the promised good news to Pakistani workers or they would continueto suffer in misery

By Shujauddin Qureshi

Pakistani workers have been suffering hardships for decades due tovarious reasons, such as increased working hours, low wages withoutany proper health and safety conditions, increased trend ofcontractual employments, and restrictions on joining trade unions.Though successive governments have pledged to provide relief to theworkers, none of them has fulfilled its commitments in the regard. Theruling PPP government is expected to announce the country's sixthlabour policy on May 1, to coincide with the International Labour Day,in an attempt to provide better working conditions to labourers in thecountry, as also promised in the party's 2008 election manifesto.

Pakistan's first labour policy was announced in 1955, but itremained only on paper. The second labour policy was announced byAyub Khan in 1959. The third labour policy was announced by YahyaKhan exactly a decade later. The same year, the Industrial RelationsOrdinance (IRO) 1969 was enacted to introduce legislationguaranteeing freedom of association and right to collective bargainingto the workers. The ordinance also had provisions regarding thewelfare of workers and minimum wages for them. This was donemainly to fulfil obligations as a signatory to various InternationalLabour Organisation (ILO) conventions. The IRO 1969 was followed bythe West Pakistan Minimum Wages for Unskilled Workers Ordinance1969 and the Workers Welfare Fund Ordinance 1971.

The fourth labour policy was announced by the country's first civilianprime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1972. It is important to note thatboth the late Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif failed to announce anylabour policy during their two tenures as the country's prime minister.The fifth (current) labour policy was announced by Pervez Musharrafin 2002, after a lengthy consultative process with representatives ofboth employers and employees.

However, the final policy did not include the promised benefits for theworkers. It may be recalled that the spade work for this labour policywas done by then-Minister for Labour and Oversees Pakistanis OmerAsghar Khan, who held a series of meetings with both labour unionsand employers. However, he parted ways with the government beforethe announcement of the final policy in Dec 2001; hence, the benefitspromised to the workers were missing.

Moreover, the fifth labour policy was followed by the notorious IRO2002 that virtually ruined the labour movement in the country. It isfor this reason that trade union activists criticise the present labourlaws as have been drafted to benefit the employers only. The previousgovernment further added to the miseries of the workers by amendingmany labour-related laws -- the Factories Act 1934, Shops andEstablishment Ordinance 1969, West Pakistan Industrial andCommercial Employment (Standing Orders) Ordinance 1968, WorkersWelfare Fund Ordinance 1971, and Employees' Old-age Benefits(EOBI) Act 1976 -- in the Finance Bill 2006.

The amendments to the Shops and Establishment Ordinance increaseddaily working hours for the labourers from eight to 12, and abolishedtheir compulsory weekly holiday. The amendments to the Factories


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Act removed the bar on female labourers from working in factoriesbefore sunrise and after sunset; the employers may now force them towork two shifts at a time, up to 10pm.

The amendments to the Standing Orders Ordinance introduced a newcategory of 'contract worker', who will not be entitled to compensationfor overtime, and raised the ceiling on overtime from 150 to 624hours a year for adults and from 100 to 468 hours a year forjuveniles. Similarly, the amendments to the Workers Welfare Fundand EOBI restricted their scope. For example, registration with theEOBI was made compulsory for only those establishments employing20 or more workers. In short, these amendments snatched thefundamental rights of the workers.

Although the present government has already adopted some measuresfor the welfare of workers, such as increasing the minimum wages ofunskilled workers to Rs6,000 a month and replacing the controversialIRO 2002 with the Industrial Relations Act (IRA) 2008, trade unionactivists doubt its seriousness. "Even the minimum wages are notbeing implemented throughout the country and most workers still getsalaries between Rs3,000 and Rs4,000 a month," says Zulfiqar Shah,joint director of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education andResearch (Piler), a Karachi-based NGO working on the rights oflabourers.

The abolition of the IRO 2002 had been a major demand of labourunions and federations throughout the country, because the "black"law had curtailed many of their liberties. For example, under thisordinance, the state had withdrawn itself from monitoring theimplementation of labour laws through suspension of labour inspectionin industrial and commercial establishments. This had made theLabour Departments of the provincial governments inactive. Thoughthere is a lot of corruption in these departments, the regularinspection of factories was a major deterrent.

Moreover, the IRO 2002 did not recognise the right of agriculturallabour to form unions. Similarly, the powers of the National IndustrialRelations Commission (NIRC) to grant immediate relief to sacked /retrenched workers were abolished under this law. Earlier, if anyworker was sacked and a case was filed with the NIRC, he or she couldget stay order until the case was decided. However, under the IRO2002, sacking of the workers had been made easier for the employers,because no immediate relief was available to the former from theNIRC. Besides abolition of the labour appellate tribunal, the powers oflabour courts to reinstate sacked workers had also been curtailed inthe IRO 2002.

Although the draconian law has now been replaced with the IRA 2008through an act of the parliament, the workers are still unhappy. "Wewant the government to grant unconditional right to the workers toform trade unions irrespective of the nature of their jobs, because theConstitution of Pakistan guarantees this right," says Farid Awan,general secretary of the All Pakistan Trade Union Federation, SindhChapter.

Talking to The News on Sunday, he tells that in the tripartite meetingheld in Feb, the government had shared drafts of three laws -- theService Conditions Act, Health and Safety Act and Industrial RelationsLaw -- that were to be part of the new labour policy with


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representatives of the workers and employers to seek their input. "Wehave already submitted our recommendations to the government andhope the same would be incorporated into the forthcoming labourpolicy," Awan says.

With sky-rocketing inflation and increasing commodity prices andtransport fares, the living conditions of the workers are deterioratingwith each passing day. In Pakistan, the majority of the workforce isemployed in the non-formal sector, where labour laws do not evenapply. So, these workers are not considered as labour force and aredenied the rights due to them.

The labourers in the agriculture sector are also not covered under theexisting labour laws, thus the majority of the workers are deniedinstitutional benefits. Similarly, the labour working in brick kilns andpower looms is not entitled to receive any facility from stateinstitutions. Since all the abovementioned categories of workers donot have the right to collective bargaining, they cannot claim healthand other benefits either.

Tying up loose ends

There is an urgent need for establishing the relevance of medicalautopsy

By Dr Arif Rasheed Malik and Khayal Khalil

The concept and scope of health care in this part of the world isthought to terminate with the life of the patient. In case doctors fail toestablish the cause of death during the life of that patient, the quest isabandoned as soon as the patient is lost. The doctors -- as scientists --must enquire into such a 'mystery' and solve it to avoid encounteringit again. However, despite the acknowledged role of medical autopsiesin the prevention of medical errors, they are not carried out inPakistan. This is an irresponsible attitude, because by not trying tolearn we deliberately ensure the repetition of our mistakes, costing noless than somebody's life.

Medical (also called hospital or clinical)autopsy, a surgical procedure performedon a recently deceased patient, is thelast and most complete diagnosticprocedure. Carefully performed by athoughtful, interested and experiencedindividual, it should reveal much of the truth about the health of thedeceased patient and the mechanism of death. On the other hand, inPakistan mostly only medico-legal or forensic autopsies -- which areperformed with the aim of providing answers to questions about theidentity of the patient, cause of death, time of death, circumstances ofdeath, etc -- are carried out, and that too to help the law-enforcingagencies in solving a crime.

In short, medico-legal or forensic autopsy is performed when there issuspicion of a criminal activity; while medical autopsy is usuallycarried out in case of hospital deaths with the consent of the patient's


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relatives. Medical autopsy is rarely performed in Pakistan, except inthe army's medical institutes, and that too in only high profile cases.The pathologists who carry out medical autopsies try to figure outexactly what caused the death of an undiagnosed patient or a patientfor whom a treatment for an established diagnosis failed resulting inhis/her death. As part of this procedure, there is a systematic analysisof the patient's body, especially the organ systems.

The external scrutiny of body and examination of clothes, in this case,is of lesser significance, because no foul play is suspected. Furtherexamination may require a team of professionals who can carry outhistological and biochemical examinations. The medical recordsregistering the course of treatment undertaken and the completemedical history of the patient is very important to reach a verdictabout the exact medical cause of his/her death. This knowledge can beused to educate practising physicians and students, and even help thepatient's family to come to terms with the tragedy.

Different beliefs among health professionals in particular and people ingeneral create a certain hesitation to performing a medical autopsy.Some believe that due to advanced diagnostic medical procedures,there is little room for error and autopsy is unlikely to reveal anythingother than that what is already known. Moreover, hesitation mayresult from defensiveness of doctors apprehending blame fordiagnostic complications.

Medical autopsy, however, remains the most comprehensive and finalmethod 'when one sees for oneself' in case a death has occurred,especially considering everything that was done was by the book.After all, we must not forget in our complacency that a new diseasemight have appeared to endanger us all. So, the role of medicalautopsy is well acknowledged and established throughout the world.Unfortunately, however, we in Pakistan have failed to adopt it. Medicalautopsy is especially important in clinical medicine, because it canidentify medical error and assist continuous improvement.

For example, a study focussing on myocardial infarction (MI) or heartattack as a cause of death found significant errors of omission andcommission: a sizeable number of cases ascribed to MIs were not MIsand a significant number of non-MIs were actually MIs. Similarly, areview calculated that in about 25 percent of autopsies a majordiagnostic error will be revealed. In another contemporary USinstitution, 8.4-24.4 percent of autopsies will detect major diagnosticerrors.

At some hospitals abroad, the rate of autopsy was astonishingly high,demonstrating the emphasis laid on the relationship between thequality of health care and the rate of autopsy in the past. In Cuba, forinstance, a hospital having 520 beds, and more than 15,000admissions and about 1,100 deaths per year, claims to haveperformed autopsy on more than 80 percent of the cases since itsopening 24 years ago. However, autopsy rates are now on the declineeven in developed countries. For example, in US hospitals, theautopsy rate was about 50 percent before World War II; it reachedabout 60 percent in the 1960s; and then rapidly declined to itscurrent level of 5-10 percent.

It is noteworthy that despite the increased use of advanced imagingtechniques (considered as invaluable for diagnosis), the frequency of


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medical errors, diagnostic or therapeutic, has not reducedsignificantly. In US hospitals, studies have shown findings suggestingthat major clinical diagnosis can be wrong. Beginning in the 1970s,21-43 percent of autopsies discovered at least one clinicallyundetected error contributing to the patient's death, and 10 percent to13 percent discovered a condition, which if known before the patient'sdeath, would likely have changed ongoing treatment.

One study found 55 percent major diagnostic errors (Class I and ClassII), documenting its findings as: "Autopsies revealed 171 misseddiagnosis, including 21 cancers, 12 strokes, 11 myocardial infarctions,10 pulmonary emboli and 9 endocarditis, among others." Focussing onintubated patients, another study found abdominal pathologicconditions -- such as abscesses, bowel perforations or infarctions --were as frequent as pulmonary emboli as a cause of Class I errors.While patients with abdominal pathologic conditions generallycomplained of abdominal pain, results of examination of the abdomenwere considered unremarkable in most patients and the symptom wasnot pursued.

A large meta-analysis suggested that approximately one third of deathcertificates are incorrect and that half of the autopsies performedproduced finding that were not suspected before the person died.Moreover, it is thought that over one fifth of unexpected findings canonly be diagnosed histologically by biopsy or autopsy and thatapproximately one quarter of unexpected findings, or 5 percent of allfindings, are major and can only be diagnosed from tissue by biopsy orautopsy.

These facts and figures reflect the existence of a considerable numberof medical cases that should have been approached differently.Moreover, they portray possible medical errors and missed diagnosiseven at centres that are considered as first class. We have no data tospeak of that might make us aware of how mistaken we have been inthe past; hence, there is little promise that we will be able to correctthese mistakes. Therefore, it is suggested that medical autopsiesshould be carried out in Pakistan, at least in teaching and tertiarymedical institutes.

(Dr Arif Rasheed Malik is associate professor and head of theDepartment of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Services Institute ofMedical Sciences, Lahore. Khayal Khalil is an MBBS student at thesame institute.)

The unmet challenge

The family planning marketing techniques need a revamp

By Naila Inayat

Turn on the radio in the morning; the first thing that brushes yourears is this annoyingly melodious track Suno Zara Khushi Ki Aahat /Chu Lo Zara Man Ki Chahat. If by any chance you are planning toswitch on the TV for morning news, then better not touch the remote-- the same song, brought to you by Touch Condoms, a product of


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Greenstar, is being played there as well!

This bold campaign is being noticedacross the cities because of the hugebillboards, as well as advertisements inthe print and electronic media. If thetarget audience is the urban locale, thenwhat about the rural areas where themajority of Pakistanis still live? Even if itis urban-area specific, what about thedowntrodden majority that lives inslums and other underdeveloped areasof the big cities? Do they get the message in black and white?However, it is not only this particular campaign that one shouldquestion; the entire family planning marketing techniques should bein focus.

According to the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2006-7(PDHS), the unmet need for family planning is defined as thepercentage of married women who want to space their next birth orstop child bearing entirely but are not using contraception. The surveyreveals that 25 percent of married women have an unmet need forfamily planning -- 11 percent for spacing and 14 percent for limiting.Moreover, the unmet need ranges from 23 percent in Punjab to 31percent in Balochistan.

"I do not understand these advertisements much. All I know is that Ihave problems convincing my husband about planning our family. I donot get any help from the radio or TV for this purpose, while I cannotread newspapers," says Haleema, a 27-year-old mother of one and aresident of a slum near Liaqatabad.

Javed, a carpenter living in the same slum, tells The News on Sunday:"When I was growing up, I watched the comedy programme Janjalpuraon PTV. That was an effective way of convincing people with a pinch ofsalt. However, the government does not seem to be focussing on theissue of population control these days."

"If you ask what awareness has been created through advertisements,my answer would be bachay do hi achay (two kids are the best). Ihave not come across anything as simple as this. It was through thistagline that health workers convinced us to practice contraception.This is the only reason I have only two children," Shafiq, anotherresident of the area, says.

"I find the family planning advertisements really amusing. In fact, atfirst I thought the Touch Condoms advertisement was publicity ofsome mobile phone," says Hina Tariq, creative manager at anadvertising agency. It is a fact that advertising of contraceptives is stillvery much a taboo in Pakistan. Therefore, such awareness campaignsshould be encouraged in societies like ours where there is a lack ofknowledge about reproductive health, especially in theunderdeveloped areas.

During discussion on the key findings of the PDHS at a recentworkshop, it was claimed that 45 percent of the country's women havebeen exposed to a family planning message through the radio (11percent) or TV (41 percent) in the month prior to the survey. Urban,educated and wealthy women are more likely to have heard a family


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planning message than those living in rural areas, those with lesseducation and those who are poor. The most common types ofmessages heard related to limiting family size, spacing children andusing contraception.

However, Hina says: "Medium is the message. If you are following thatrule in advertising, then it is imperative for you to know who isdecoding your message; in other words, who is your target audience."If you are trying to convince slum dwellers to adopt contraceptionthrough advertising and you are coming up with a generalised idea --glamorous models, beautiful props and a vague message -- they wouldbe further alienated. Therefore, there is a need to evolve simple anddynamic ways of advertising. Street theatre could be one such methodwhereby the population control authorities work with NGOs to createawareness among the masses.

Federal Minister for Population Welfare Dr Fardous Ashiq Awan agreeswith the idea. "Social marketing is important to counter this unmetneed for family planning. The family planning advertising campaignshould be in the reach of those couples who are 'convinced' of the useof contraception. In Pakistan, the practice is otherwise -- you aretrying to convince the 'unconvinced' lot, while you are not givingproper information to the convinced lot," she says. Awan believes thatin order to spread the message, the Ministry of Information can workin tandem with the Ministry of Population Welfare, especially nowwhen the electronic media has become so vibrant.

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