Papers by Muhammad Hamza Abbas
This paper highlights the major challenges to social accountability in Pakistan. Based on a perce... more This paper highlights the major challenges to social accountability in Pakistan. Based on a perception survey of 800 household-level respondents from four provinces of Pakistan besides relevant focus group discussions and key informant interviews, the findings of the study reveal that the respondents have an understanding of which of the basic services they are entitled to and which are not being facilitated by public sector service providers. Owing to the trust deficit between communities and state administration, there is a dire need for establishing and reforming informal and formal grievance redressal mechanisms. On the other hand, with over half of Pakistan's population not having any formal education, communities need to be trained in social accountability tools through which they may access their rights and entitlements. Civil society organisations (CSOs), working in Pakistan for over the last two decades, urgently need to introduce innovative methods for community mobilisation. These CSOs are also facing severe internal and external security threats which are impacting the effectiveness of community-level accountability exercises. While we take stock of such challenges, there is renewed hope that government and donor community will support local-level CSOs to mitigate threats to social accountability interventions.
India and Pakistan were highly dependent on each other for trade at the time of partition of Indi... more India and Pakistan were highly dependent on each other for trade at the time of partition of Indian sub-continent in 1947. Thereafter, both the countries resorted to deliberate measures to minimize their trade dependence on each other due to Kashmir dispute. India’s share in Pakistan’s global imports went down from 50.6 per cent in 1948-49 to 2.7 per cent in 2005-06. However, operationalization of South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement in 2006 boosted the intra-trade ties between the two countries, and increased India’ share in Pakistan’s global imports to 4.3 per cent in 2013-14. India and Pakistan have preserved 614 and 936 sensitive items, respectively, for each other w.e.f. 1st Jan 2012. Further, Pakistan has the Negative List of 1209 items that cannot be imported from India w.e.f. 20 March 2012. During 2013-14, India was the 5th largest exporter to Pakistan after China, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. There are great potentials of mutual trade because of their geographical proximity, complementarity and competitiveness to each other. During 2013, the official trade between India and Pakistan could have increased from US$ 2.25 billion to US$ 30.4 billion (13.5 times), if both the countries had removed certain irritants in the way of trade.
India and Pakistan started trade via Wagah land route in 2005, and resumed truck movement on this route w.e.f. 1st October 2007. Pakistan’s import via Wagah border is limited to 138 items w.e.f. 28 January 2014. However, this list of 138 items is not applicable to the rail route. Wagah/Attari land route trade was 25 per cent of the total trade in 2013-14. The cross-LoC barter trade in Jammu & Kashmir for 21 items has also been initiated via Chakan Da Bagh (Poonch)–Rawalakote in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), and via Salamabad in Uri (Baramula) – Chakoti (PoK) since 21 October 2008. However, LoC trade was only 4.9 per cent of the total bilateral trade during 2013-14.
The Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) are putting restrictions on the bilateral trade potentials between India and Pakistan. Thus, the micro study has been made on trade of ‘textile and textile products’ and agricultural items between India and Pakistan. A perception survey has been conducted among various stakeholders such as importers, exporters, producers, freight forwarders, chamber leaders, transporters, clearing house agents, and customs officials from Wagah/Attari and Chakan Da Bagh borders in India and Pakistan during August-November 2014. The total sample of 230 stakeholders in India and 102 stakeholders in Pakistan was taken for the survey.
The study has found that lack of land trade routes, illicit drug trafficking, lack of banking facilities, informal trade via third countries, dissimilar customs procedures, visa restrictions, dismal labeling and packaging requirements, under/over invoicing of goods, lack of testing facilities, excessive checking of consignments, mishandling of goods, and infrastructure constraints at customs were the major NTBs between India and Pakistan.
The study recommends the installation of full body truck scanners on the Indian side of Wagah/Attari border and LoC trade centres for transparent mutual trade; opening of new land trade routes like Hussainiwala (Firozpur)-Ganda Singh Wala (Kasur), Patti/Bhikhiwind/Khalra-Lahore, Fazilka-Sahiwal, Fazilka-Amruka-Karachi, Khemkaran - Kasur, and Jammu-Sialkot, etc; opening bank branches in each other’s country and mutual trade payments through Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) across central banks and their customers; stopping Hawala/irregular payments; replacing the Pakistan’s positive list of 138 items imported via Wagah land route with its negative list of 1209 items via Mumbai-Karachi sea route; increasing barter LoC trade of 21 items by adding wheat and its products, canned trout fish, juices and jams, milk and its products, sports items, Kashmiri willow, marble and gypsum in the India’s exports list; and tea and coffee, leather and its products, pulses, oil seeds, feeds, tyres and tubes, lubricants, hosiery, electric goods, surgical items, fertilizers, spices, and automobile parts in India’s imports list from Pakistan; regular meetings between the Indian and Pakistani traders on the zero line of LoC for settlement of their barter accounts; regular updating of web portal and organizing more trade fairs; mobile Roaming facilities and reduced mobile call rates for traders; better infrastructure facilities like lab testing services, containerized cargo, increased trade timings, more gates to reduce congestion and separate single window for Exporter & Importer at land customs stations on Wagah border; checking corruption and harassment of traders at land customs station; country labeling on tradable goods; involving trade bodies for settling trade disputes; and liberal visa policy for traders with facility of visa on arrival, etc. In addition, the study identifies the agricultural and textile goods having good prospects for India’s exports to Pakistan such as tea & mate, spices, textile yarn, cotton, sugar, silk, synthetic fibre, wheat flour, vegetables & man-made fibres; and Pakistan’s exports to India such as cotton, spices, worn clothing and other worn textile articles, fruits & nuts, synthetic fibres, vegetables, and special yarn.
Acronyms v Bismillahirr Rahman irr Raheem When we began working on the district rankings for educ... more Acronyms v Bismillahirr Rahman irr Raheem When we began working on the district rankings for education in Pakistan, the intention was to establish a framework for comparative analysis between different parts of the country in terms of how well government schools are serving Pakistani children. The key driver of this desire to stimulate comparisons was to spark the competitive spirit of politicians to own their districts and immerse themselves in the education reform conversation with greater commitment and passion.
The study was conducted to analyze the impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Human Resource
De... more The study was conducted to analyze the impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Human Resource
Development in the SAARC Region: Lessons Learnt. The Global Financial Crisis [GFC] primarily
originated in the developed economies, developing economies, including those in South Asia, could not
buffer for too long, from the adverse impacts of the crisis. Weakening in the budgetary position and the
Government revenues, spending in the social sector development have slowed down, in most of the
South Asian countries during the post GFC period. There is an evidence to believe that this has also led to
a slowdown in poverty reduction, along with stag inflationary pressures in some of the South Asian
economies in the aftermath of the GFC. The occurrence of GFC has already prompted many to believe
that the center of global economy is now shifting to Asia. Given the significant proportion of youth in the
population of SAARC economies, it has become vital to invest in HRD in order to realize the rise of the
'Asian Century'. Therefore, it is imperative to enhance cooperation amongst the SAARC Member States
to reap the regional human resource potential. This study has investigated the impact of GFC on Human
Resource Development [HRD] in the SAARC region.
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Papers by Muhammad Hamza Abbas
India and Pakistan started trade via Wagah land route in 2005, and resumed truck movement on this route w.e.f. 1st October 2007. Pakistan’s import via Wagah border is limited to 138 items w.e.f. 28 January 2014. However, this list of 138 items is not applicable to the rail route. Wagah/Attari land route trade was 25 per cent of the total trade in 2013-14. The cross-LoC barter trade in Jammu & Kashmir for 21 items has also been initiated via Chakan Da Bagh (Poonch)–Rawalakote in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), and via Salamabad in Uri (Baramula) – Chakoti (PoK) since 21 October 2008. However, LoC trade was only 4.9 per cent of the total bilateral trade during 2013-14.
The Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) are putting restrictions on the bilateral trade potentials between India and Pakistan. Thus, the micro study has been made on trade of ‘textile and textile products’ and agricultural items between India and Pakistan. A perception survey has been conducted among various stakeholders such as importers, exporters, producers, freight forwarders, chamber leaders, transporters, clearing house agents, and customs officials from Wagah/Attari and Chakan Da Bagh borders in India and Pakistan during August-November 2014. The total sample of 230 stakeholders in India and 102 stakeholders in Pakistan was taken for the survey.
The study has found that lack of land trade routes, illicit drug trafficking, lack of banking facilities, informal trade via third countries, dissimilar customs procedures, visa restrictions, dismal labeling and packaging requirements, under/over invoicing of goods, lack of testing facilities, excessive checking of consignments, mishandling of goods, and infrastructure constraints at customs were the major NTBs between India and Pakistan.
The study recommends the installation of full body truck scanners on the Indian side of Wagah/Attari border and LoC trade centres for transparent mutual trade; opening of new land trade routes like Hussainiwala (Firozpur)-Ganda Singh Wala (Kasur), Patti/Bhikhiwind/Khalra-Lahore, Fazilka-Sahiwal, Fazilka-Amruka-Karachi, Khemkaran - Kasur, and Jammu-Sialkot, etc; opening bank branches in each other’s country and mutual trade payments through Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) across central banks and their customers; stopping Hawala/irregular payments; replacing the Pakistan’s positive list of 138 items imported via Wagah land route with its negative list of 1209 items via Mumbai-Karachi sea route; increasing barter LoC trade of 21 items by adding wheat and its products, canned trout fish, juices and jams, milk and its products, sports items, Kashmiri willow, marble and gypsum in the India’s exports list; and tea and coffee, leather and its products, pulses, oil seeds, feeds, tyres and tubes, lubricants, hosiery, electric goods, surgical items, fertilizers, spices, and automobile parts in India’s imports list from Pakistan; regular meetings between the Indian and Pakistani traders on the zero line of LoC for settlement of their barter accounts; regular updating of web portal and organizing more trade fairs; mobile Roaming facilities and reduced mobile call rates for traders; better infrastructure facilities like lab testing services, containerized cargo, increased trade timings, more gates to reduce congestion and separate single window for Exporter & Importer at land customs stations on Wagah border; checking corruption and harassment of traders at land customs station; country labeling on tradable goods; involving trade bodies for settling trade disputes; and liberal visa policy for traders with facility of visa on arrival, etc. In addition, the study identifies the agricultural and textile goods having good prospects for India’s exports to Pakistan such as tea & mate, spices, textile yarn, cotton, sugar, silk, synthetic fibre, wheat flour, vegetables & man-made fibres; and Pakistan’s exports to India such as cotton, spices, worn clothing and other worn textile articles, fruits & nuts, synthetic fibres, vegetables, and special yarn.
Development in the SAARC Region: Lessons Learnt. The Global Financial Crisis [GFC] primarily
originated in the developed economies, developing economies, including those in South Asia, could not
buffer for too long, from the adverse impacts of the crisis. Weakening in the budgetary position and the
Government revenues, spending in the social sector development have slowed down, in most of the
South Asian countries during the post GFC period. There is an evidence to believe that this has also led to
a slowdown in poverty reduction, along with stag inflationary pressures in some of the South Asian
economies in the aftermath of the GFC. The occurrence of GFC has already prompted many to believe
that the center of global economy is now shifting to Asia. Given the significant proportion of youth in the
population of SAARC economies, it has become vital to invest in HRD in order to realize the rise of the
'Asian Century'. Therefore, it is imperative to enhance cooperation amongst the SAARC Member States
to reap the regional human resource potential. This study has investigated the impact of GFC on Human
Resource Development [HRD] in the SAARC region.