Striking gold

A pyrrhic victory?

We are told that Pakistan has literally struck gold in Chiniot. The discovery of a large iron ore deposit along with copper and gold in the heartland of central Punjab is being celebrated with much fanfare.

The prime minister and his brother, the chief minister of Punjab, elaborated the find the other day in presence of media persons, the German consultants and the Chinese contractors of the project. The brothers, in their effusive speeches, declared that this find was Pakistan’s gateway to breaking the traditional begging bowl.

According to surveys the iron ore and copper, with a sprinkling of gold, is spread around an area of 28 square kilometres around Chiniot, and estimates suggest that Pakistan has a large deposit of iron and copper in an area as big as 2,000 square kilometres.

Apparently the Chiniot discovery was made much earlier. The contract to mine it was given to a nonentity by the previous Punjab administration under Pervez Elahi, without proper bidding.

The credit goes to Mian Shahbaz Sharif who got the previous bid cancelled through the Lahore High Court. And now the Punjab government, having already spent one billion rupees, is running the show itself rather than outsourcing it to any third party.

I was present on the auspicious occasion. And after seeing the ore samples and listening to very well articulated speeches, both by the prime minister and the chief minister about the country’s endemic resource crunch, wondered whether this was too good to be true? Have we had literally struck gold?

It reminded me of a 1969 western movie starring Gregory Peck and Omar Sharif, “McKenna’s Gold”, that I happened to watch coincidentally just the night before on television. It tells a story of how the lure of gold corrupts a diverse group of people.

Apparently the Chiniot discovery was made much earlier. The contract to mine it was given to a nonentity by the previous Punjab administration under Pervez Elahi, without proper bidding

At the end of the movie, based on folklore, the Colorado area bearing gold is buried under a rock fall precipitated by ensuing shooting amongst scavengers for the precious metal. Sheriff McKenna (Gregory Peck) however manages to get way with some gold stuffed in his saddlebags.

Hopefully the Chiniot treasure will not remain buried under the lush green fields of central Punjab and Pakistan will benefit from the accruing revenue. But effusive speeches by the Sharif brothers, despite the cautious briefing by the German consultant on the site, epitomised the natural tendency of our rulers to count the chickens even before the eggs are hatched.

While riding on the helicopter from Lahore to Chiniot I asked the dapper chief minister of Punjab what he thought of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) being crushed by a relative political novice in New Delhi’s 70-member state assembly elections. Mr Sharif thought that the Aam Aadmi party humbled Narendra Modi owing to the BJP’s mad quest for economic development at the expense of the common man.

Sharif was spot on. A few percentage points of GDP growth without improving the lot of the common man are really not worth the trouble. Perhaps?

While I was complimenting the chief minister on his sharp suit, another journalist present on the occasion jokingly warned him that maybe Modi’s undoing in Delhi was the expensive attire worth million of Indian rupees that he wore on the occasion of welcoming Barak Obama on his recent New Delhi visit.

India is struggling with its endemic low GDP growth rate and so is Pakistan. The ruling elite of the sub-continent, obsessed with western investment, seem oblivious to abject poverty of the vast sea of humanity trying to eke out a modicum of living under their yoke.

From a Marxist point of view western democracy is viewed as a means to protect, preserve and promote lifestyles of the rich and the famous. Nevertheless, with Marxism dead and buried, the democratic system is seen as the only way forward.

However, the supreme tragedy of both India and Pakistan is that billions are being spent on acquiring military hardware at the expense of the poor man. It is no coincidence that both India and Pakistan are at the bottom of the ladder of social indicators.

Despite being armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons, both countries’ outlays on vital sectors like health, education and clean drinking water are dismally low. Perhaps aware of the dire straits we are in, the prime minister, during his speech at Chiniot, lamented at the resource crunch and the poor state of health and education.

Luckily for the Sharifs there is no ‘Aam Aadmi’ to challenge their suzerainty. Imran Khan is neither an Arvind Kejriwal nor his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)

Perhaps a major factor behind Modi’s defeat in New Delhi is the BJP’S obsession with Hindutva. On the basis of this flawed supremacist philosophy, anti-Pakistan rhetoric has become its mantra.

Apart from forced conversions and Muslims being burnt alive, churches, Christian schools and mosques are being attacked with impunity. On the other hand, efforts to arm India have been redoubled.

The prime minister, after receiving a call from the US president, had a telecon with Narendra Modi as well. Perhaps as a result of the US pushing both New Delhi and Islamabad, the Indian foreign secretary, apart from visiting other SSARC capitals, will soon be visiting Islamabad.

This is a positive development coming after the impasse created by Modi who unilaterally cancelled foreign secretary talks that were to be held in Islamabad last August. This comes in the wake of Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz expressing Islamabad’s desire to have better ties with New Delhi, while the military spokesman accusing India of funding Taliban terrorists in Pakistan.

In this context not much hope can be pinned on the resumption of foreign secretary level talks. But it is a humble beginning on which perhaps an edifice of better India-Pakistan ties can be built. In the context of the most recent terrorist attack on a Peshawar imambargah, both countries should pledge not to use terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

Dialogue is the only option between two nuclear-armed states. However, changing the narrative from unabashed militarisation to trade and economic driven ties would need a Herculean effort on both sides of the divide.

Guns or butter is an old debate. But it is an undeniable fact the ‘Aam Aadmi’ (common man) cannot eat or wear ballistic missiles or state of the art weapons. If it were so, the Soviet Union, matching the US in conventional as well as nuclear arms, would never have collapsed.

Luckily for the Sharifs there is no ‘Aam Aadmi’ to challenge their suzerainty. Imran Khan is neither an Arvind Kejriwal nor his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

However, under the weight of jaundiced governance their brand has been severely — albeit not necessarily inexorably — damaged in less than two years of their rule. Unless the PML-N is willing to mend its ways, it is bound to go under in the next election whenever they are held.

If the lot of man on the street remains dismal, merely striking gold in the lush green fields of Chiniot will prove to be a pyrrhic victory for our hukamrans.