[Pakistan Acquires Nuclear Second Strike Capability

 

A great news (reported by Times of India) for all Pakistanis in the world, that :- ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Navy completed the establishment of a new Naval Strategic Force Command, described by the military as the custodian of the country's nuclear second strike capability.

This is really a red letter day, in the history of the nation and a great morale boaster for all Pakistanis living in Pakistan and abroad. Pakistan Paindabad.

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

Lahore - Pakistan

Sent from my iPad3 4G LTE

Pakistan's poor power generation is rising political instability

 

Dear Friends,

Electricity in Pakistan is generated, transmitted, distributed and retail supplied by two vertically integrated public sector utilities: Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) for all of Pakistan (except Karachi), and the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) for the City of Karachi and its surrounding areas. There are around 20 independent power producers that contributes significantly in electricity generation in Pakistan.

For years, the matter of balancing Pakistan's supply against the demand for electricity has remained a largely unresolved matter. Pakistan faces a significant challenge in revamping its network responsible for the supply of electricity.

While the government claims credit for overseeing a turnaround in the economy through a comprehensive recovery, it has just failed to oversee a similar improvement in the quality of the network for electricity supply.

Some officials even go as far as claiming that the frequent power cuts across Pakistan today are indicative of an emerging prosperity as there is fast rising demand for electricity. And yet, the failure to meet the demand is indeed indicative of a challenge to that very prosperity. Pakistan's electricity producers are now seeking a parity in returns for both domestic and foreign investors which indicates it to be one of the key unresolved issues in overseeing a surge in electricity generation when the country faces growing shortages.

Contrary to Pakistani government and expatriate claims, Pakistan suffers from a massive electricity shortage. Electricity generation in Pakistan has shrunk by up to 50% in recent years due to an overreliance on Fossil Fuel. In 2008, availability of power in Pakistan falls short of the population's needs by 15%[4] Pakistan was hit by its worst power crisis in 2007, after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and the following riots. Production fell by 6000 Megawatts and massive blackouts followed suit. The blame was laid on the then president, Pervez Musharraf, and was instrumental in his defeat. Load Shedding (deliberate blackouts) and power blackouts have become severe in Pakistan in recent years. The main problem with Pakistan's poor power generation is rising political instability, together with rising demands for power and lack of efficiency.

With power shortages in Pakistan, Iran has been offering to export electricity to Pakistan at subsidized rates but the government of Pakistan has not yet responded to the offers for unknown reasons.

The current shortfall 7500 MegaWatts.

In the short run addressing difficult challenges such as the demand for a parity of treatment to both domestic and foreign investors must make some difference by way of attracting investors across the board. Given the growing demand for electricity, foreign investors must have a role in helping Pakistan meet this challenge.

But the challenges faced by Pakistan are by no means easy. It is indeed the case that the business of reforming the electricity supply network is just not about short term and often incomplete measures of the kind that Pakistanis have been accustomed to.

Even if Pakistan successfully set aside the vast funds which are necessary to finance such a turn-around, the time taken to ensure the supply of all the technical ingredients must in itself make the task formidably challenging.
In the environment which prevails across the world today, there is already a considerable line-up of both individuals and countries which have placed orders to buy new equipment. Indeed, Pakistani officials are all too aware of international market conditions which only add to the difficulty surrounding their task.

Though sorting out global market conditions are just not in reach of one country alone, other matters are indeed within Pakistan's grasp. These include the need to turn around popular habits which hardly help to curtail the usage of electricity, with wastages and deliberate inefficiencies being the principal factors. But the lead for such an endeavour must come in part from Pakistani leaders.

During 2010 Pakistan floods and 2005 Kashmir earthquake power stations, power distribution and transmission and other energy infrastructures were damaged. During the floods the recently constructed Jinnah hydroelectric power plant was flooded in addition to severe damages to transmission and distribution network and installations while several power plants and refineries were threatened by rising waters and had to be shut down. Natural gas field output had to be reduced as the flood waters approached the wells. There has also been some concern by Pakistani nuclear activists over the effect of natural disasters on nuclear plants specially over the Chashma Nuclear Power Complex, since the plant lies over a geological fault. Due to over reliance of Pakistan on dams for electricity generation,some environmental impacts of dams such as submergence of usable/ecological land and their negative impact on Pakistan's mangrove forests due to loss of river silt
load, as well as increased risk of severe floods have become evident.

Sources

Pakistan's Ongoing Electricity Shortage". Energy Tribune. 19 October 2011.
More Crises in Pakistan: Electricity, 19 October 2011.

Regards
Shoaib Habib Memon
Cell.0314 2090252

EDITORIAL IN NEWS THIS MORNING

 

Setting boundaries

Saturday, May 19, 2012

When the Asghar Khan case was first revived for hearing before the Supreme Court on February 29, many hailed it as the harbinger of a transformative moment in the history of civil-military relations in Pakistan. But very quickly, the case has become all about unsubstantiated claims, accusations and counter-accusations. While former army chief Aslam Beg says the revelations of the then head of Mehran bank, Younus Habib, are a bolt from the blue, ex-DG ISI Asad Durrani claims that his boss, Gen Beg, was fully on board and issued the initial orders to disburse 'donations' among politicians and also oversaw the entire operation of distribution of funds. Shedding light on the political role of the ISI, Gen Durrani repeated a widely accepted argument to make his point about the centrality of Gen Beg to the whole operation: while in theory, the ISI responds to multiple centres of power – the president, three service chiefs, chairman of the Joint Services Headquarters and the prime minister – in practice, the army chief wields more power over the ISI than any of its other "bosses."
But one claim that Generals Beg and Durrani have in common is that whatever they did, it was on the orders of then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan and in the service of the 'national interest.' This raises a fundamental question, one that may get to the heart of many of Pakistan's problems, not least the civil-military imbalance: is it justified for an officer of the armed forces – or for a civilian politician for that matter – to follow a command even when it is blatantly unconstitutional and illegal? In the affairs of state, at what point should principles take precedence over the holy chain of command? Pakistan's history is littered with examples when army officers and civilian leaders have obeyed the illegal orders of superiors and set the country on the path of self-destruction. Thus, if one were to imagine the ideal verdict in the Asghar Khan case, it would be one that mandates punishment for those who willfully and knowingly act outside the ambit of the law and the constitution in the discharge of official duties. Red lines must be drawn, and this is the perfect opportunity to do it, given that we have the case of top officers who knowingly violated their oath of office and defiled the constitution. What must also be checked are the political workings of the ISI. The court has now ordered the government to submit the notification under which the ISI's political cell was set up by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1975. For as the chief justice himself said on Thursday, while everyone recognises the ISI's sacrifices for, and services to, this country, it must not be allowed to use its capabilities against politicians. If clear lines are drawn, this will also save the institution itself from suffering the adverse ramifications of the illegal actions of top bosses and individual officers.

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