The US-backed Afghan National Army and the Afghan police have launched a new hunt -- this time for an Indian fugitive by the name Dawood Ibrahim. The tribal areas bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan, which were being searched for Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants, are now being combed for the man accused of Mumbai blasts in March 1993.

The names of Dawood Ibrahim, and Maulana Masood Azhar who was released from an Indian jail after the Indian passenger plane highjacking to Kandahar during the Taliban government in 1999, surfaced in the Pakistani media last week when the issue of handing over of the two most wanted persons was raised at the secretary-level talks with India in Islamabad. Maulana Azhar, a Pakistani national, was the founder of Jaish-i-Muhammad in early 2000, which was later banned by President General Pervez Musharraf, in January 2002. The ban on Jaish and other religio-militant outfits blamed for indulging in sectarian and terrorist activities was placed under pressure from Washington that had declared these organisations as terrorist groups.

Sources in the Afghan border security force confirmed that President Hamid Karzai's government has tasked the forces under its command to include the name of Dawood Ibrahim in the list of most wanted terrorists hunted by the US, Afghanistan and of course the Indian government This is reflective of the rising Indian influence in the region. The latest search job entrusted to the Afghan forces is part of a campaign to pressurise Pakistan to tame the activities of these two wanted men, or better, hand them over to India for trial.

Sources in the Pakistani intelligence agencies, however, express ignorance about the whereabouts of the wanted Indian national. Afghan sources also claim Dawood Ibrahim might be having a safe sanctuary in Pakistan, where, they say, he continues to maintain close links with militant outfits. The US Treasury Department had declared Dawood Ibrahim a specially designated global terrorist having al-Qaeda links in October 2003.

According to a theory doing the rounds in Peshawar, close friends in Pakistan may have convinced Dawood Ibrahim to relocate himself amid fears that he will be targeted by his enemy, Rajender Sadashiv Nikhalje alias Chhota Rajan. As the story goes, Rajan had planned to sneak into Karachi -- where Dawood Ibrahim was supposed to be living -- and shoot.

The Afghan sources rule out Dawood's presence in Nangarhar province but hint the restive Kunar and even the troubled eastern provinces of Paktia, Paktika and Khost could be the possible hideouts of the terror suspect. "This is highly unlikely though," says an Afghan security official, requesting anonymity.

Dawood's rivals have failed so far in their designs to eliminate him. Observers closely monitoring Dawood's story say this is because he has literally assumed a new face -- thanks to plastic surgery.

Much to Islamabad's embarrassment, the Treasury Department in its reasons for naming Dawood Ibrahim in the list of the world's worst terrorists, had cited intelligence reports of his connections with the now outlawed militant outfits, al-Qaeda and Lashkar-i-Taiba. Out of the banned Lashkar, emerged Jamaat-ud-Dawa which is busy in quake relief work in NWFP and Azad Kashmir. High ranking US officials have time and again expressed reservations over the involvement of religious groups, specially Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Al-Khidmat Foundation, the social services wing of Jamaat-I-Islami, and sought Islamabad's help to sideline these groups in the quake relief effort. The demand has not been entertained so far.

The US war on terror seems to have dealt a severe blow to the Indian fugitive -- the Interpol notice against Dawood Ibrahim is now effective in 186 member countries including Pakistan. The Interpol notice, sources in the intelligence agencies say, is separate from the Red Corner Notice issued by the Indian Central Bureau of Investigations through the Interpol. Reports about Dawood's presence and free movement in Pakistan is a source of serious concern for Islamabad.

Tribal areas are no strangers to search for 'international terrorists'. 'Fugitive Aimal Khan Kansi', a Pashtun from Quetta who fled to Pakistan after killing two CIA agents in the US, was hiding in South Waziristan Agency before he was trapped in Dera Ghazi Khan in the 1990s after the US government put money on his head. Kansi was taken back to the US and was sentenced to death for killing Americans.

At the entrance to Azad Kashmir is a sign ripped off and thrown to one side. It reads, "Warning: Foreigners are not allowed beyond this point without permission". Some of the most heavily fought-over land in the world, Kashmir has had a history of bloodshed. And the part administered Islamic Republic of Pakistan seems even less hospitable of a location for Americans. Yet as the site of the worst natural disaster in the history of Pakistan, Kashmir has seen relief workers from all over the world come pouring into it, transforming the thinking of both locals and outsiders alike.

In the last few years, anti-Americanism around the world has grown as a result of its policies in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Israel. And it has no doubt gained the greatest number of followers in Muslim countries.

Pakistan is no exception. According to the Pew Global Attitudes Project, only 23 per cent of Pakistanis view the United States favourably, with even less viewing the American people positively. Yet after the devastating earthquake of last year, the United States was one of the biggest donors, contributing millions of dollars in aid and supplying resources such as helicopters and manpower to the relief effort. And the help that has been provided has had a striking effect on the views of people in Kashmir.

"Because of what I heard on the news about Americans in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine I thought they were conniving and violent people," says Mohammad Rafiq, a policeman who lost his home in the earthquake. "But now that I have seen them working so hard to help us, I think they are misrepresented... [the work] they did was out of the goodness of their hearts, to help humanity. And they worked extremely hard."

Bahadar Ali, another earthquake survivor, agrees. "After what happened in Afghanistan after September 11, we felt badly about the Americans. But that is all politics; every country has to look out for its own welfare."

Major Farooq, part of the Pakistan Army taskforce which first responded to the earthquake, says: "at first, the Kashmiris thought the camps would be like Guantanamo Bay, and even refused to go to the American hospitals."

"After they saw them working, they really appreciated the Americans... people were crying when they left."

And there is reason for their gratitude. According to the US Embassy web site, "the US military has flown over 5000 sorties, delivered over 20 million pounds of humanitarian aid, treated nearly 30,000 patients, and cleared over 40,000 tons of debris." Two state-of-the-art field hospitals were set up in Muzaffarabad and Shinkiari, and they performed over 500 major surgeries over the course of the relief operations. "The United States is providing more than $1.5 billion in development assistance to Pakistan over the next five years," in addition to the original pledge of $510 million in earthquake relief, more than any other country.

Ali Akbar, a survivor who lost his brother and two children in the earthquake says, "I never thought anyone would help us this much... Religion on one side, they are all good people, and they helped us like brothers."

When asked what he thought of the American people, Mushtaq Ahmed, agreed that "there is a difference between the American people and the American government." He says, "The perceptions I had of Americans came from what I heard on the news, that they were invading Afghanistan and Iraq, and bothering Muslims around the world. But that is politics. As people, they are good."

The relief effort has also done wonders for Pakistan's view in the world community. "It has completely changed perception of Pakistan in the west," according to Major Farooq. "The foreigners who came realised that our society is peaceful, caring, and hospitable."

Andrew MaCleod, former Chief of Operations for the UN Emergency Coordination Centre in Islamabad, agrees. "The people here formed some very strong friendships with the foreigners, and I think the people that stayed here will be great ambassadors for Pakistan when they go back to their home countries... they will have nothing but good things to say about Pakistan." He admits that he had thought there would "probably be some sort of reluctance at first, but here, it was nonexistent. The people were extremely welcoming and hospitable. There was no bad will and no lack of cooperation."

Ranya, a UN employee working for OCHA in Muzaffarabad, says that volunteers "were a bit apprehensive at first, but the people were very accommodating, and have really welcomed them."

It is interesting that the American operation in Pakistan has created a lot of goodwill towards the US, but in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq, US image has suffered greatly as a result of their action. In all these places the Americans claim to be trying to help the people of the respective countries, yet they have had very different reactions from the local populace. According to Hassan Askari, a professor of International Relations at Punjab University, "the difference is that in Pakistan, they came as humanitarian aid, while in Iraq and Afghanistan, they are viewed as an occupying force, under which conditions have deteriorated... with no indication of when their stay will end."

I remember back in eighth class they used to tell us all about why the year is the length it is, and why every fourth year has to be a leap year, but every fourth century doesn't, and all we could think of was, somebody goofed up proper. But we had to solve questions like "What day was 23rd July 1466?" So we had to cram up. And there was more.

After all those years, one must confess one has never been able to fathom it. You see all of us are perfectly content to work with a year that starts in January and ends on 31 st December. But for some reason economists and financiers have decreed a 'Financial Year' that starts in June and goes into next June! That means it is identified as say 'the year 2004-2005'! What a silly thing to do!

The upshot is that around this time, when the heat is setting in and tempers are frayed, it is time for 'The Budget', and a cute little ritual that is played out every year. The star is the government, but it is abetted by a plethora of bit players, economists, traders, the opposition, common people, all determined to have their moment in the spotlight.

To counter that Officialdom has, over time developed, honed and perfected a jargon so convoluted that not even trained economists can understand it. So there is an auxiliary vocabulary meant to impress the layman -- full of terms like 'people-friendly', 'growth oriented', 'equitable'.

The date of the budget is known, so the other side tries to get its word in first, and that is full of terms to counter all the authorities' claims, jargon for jargon. The opposition slams it as 'anti-poor'; economists offer a blanket condemnation -- 'Fudging figures'. Bureaucrats dismiss a fifteen percent pay rise as 'peanuts' and demand fifty; and traders, or farmers pooh-pooh a hefty subsidy as chicken feed and ask for an extended tax holiday!

The rum thing is that all these 'press statements' are issued, and printed way before the budget document has been made public, or anyone has read a word of it, or understood it! It is an opportunity to throw your weight about and lay into your opponents with bare fists, and get your name in the news and your picture in the papers by shouting your mouth off without having to think!

I suppose it is the same wherever there are parliaments and budgets. In Britain some members dress up for the occasion in silk hats and flashy waistcoats, but the ritual is the same. The government is in power and can ram the budget through no matter what. But there is a high-profile 'debate' and the occasion to go wild. They can dig up whatever grudges they've been nursing for decades -- or come up with fancy new ones. This time they lifted all taxes on tube-wells. The farmers scoffed and went on strike or organised a protest or whatever -- for free electricity for their tax-free tube-wells! It all goes to show that of all the seven deadly sins, it is greed that has no limits. And we are not ones to try to construct any!

It appears that the financial managers of the government, who ruthlessly toe the free market economy at policy level, could not find any solution within the free market framework to control unbridled prices of daily commodities. That's why they have resorted to resuscitate the legacy of socialist economy prevalent in Pakistan in the 1970s.

Utility Stores Corporation (USC) is one such legacy of the era of regulation, which the present government has been striving to revive in government/private sector. The idea is that controlled prices at USC would attract buyers, forcing other vendors to lower their prices in competition.

The government seems overambitious while making these announcements as, over the years, the coverage of utility stores has declined. Rampant losses have also undermined its efficacy regarding lowering of prices that escalated because of free market economy.

In his budget speech Omer Ayub, State Minister for Finance announced: "For facilitating the public the government has decided to open at least one Utility Store at each Tehsil Council. In addition, at the lower level, a system of Utility Store franchises and mobile units will be introduced. Once a network of Utility Stores is established at the grassroots level, it will no longer be possible for profiteers and hoarders to make anti-people moves."

The government is also planning to launch a self employment programme with an investment of Rs12 billion whose implementation will start within next six months. The loans for self employment will be given to individuals within the age of 18 to 40 years. Under the self employment scheme the citizen would establish their own utility stores under franchise.

Loans would be given through the National Bank for mobile franchise, USC sale points, in the form of tricycles, rickshaws and pick-up vans, besides outlets in buildings. The mobile stations will be used specifically for the subsidised items. The government will take responsibility for the insurance and 50 per cent of mark-up on the loans.

President Pervez Musharraf will inaugurate this employment scheme which is expected to extend the USC coverage across the country. Under the plan, pulses, sugar and flour will be supplied through tricycles, rickshaws and pick-up vans.

This only goes to show that the government wants to reverse the official policy of 1990s -- the respective governments as part of their policy of deregulation and privatisation and to control losses had cut down the number of inefficient outlets.

The numbers of utility stores that once stood at 930 has now been reduced by more than half -- to 352. The government seems set to raise the number of stores to the same figure of 930. Most of the existing utility stores are in and around the big cities. For instance the twin cities of Rawalpindi Islamabad have 90 stores.

Therefore, majority of rural people that suffers from acute poverty is not going to benefit from this. Out of around 562 tehsils only 182 have access to utility stores. Similarly, less than 200 union councils have access to USC outlets and most of them were in big cities. There are about 6,030 union councils in the country.

Spreading the utility stores network before next general elections is a mammoth task. There is skepticism if the government's patchwork in the free market system would deliver. The utility stores corporation itself claims that during the last ten years it has provided a relief of over Rs125 billion to the consumers.

The way the calculation has been made is quite interesting. During the last ten years its sales amounted to over Rs40 billion. And by selling the commodities on concessional rates that were lower by 8-10 per cent from the market rates it has provided between Rs3 to 4 billion in direct relief to the consumer.

As regards indirect relief, the utility stores' managers assumed that one utility store influenced the prices of around 30 stores in the vicinity. Therefore the utility stores bosses multiplied the 4 billion amount by 30 and drew the conclusion that the total relief provided to the people during last ten years was over Rs120 billion.

The Utility Stores Corporation's mission statement says: "The USC is committed to provide clean, graded, hygienically fit, unadulterated genuine food and non-food items to the public and specially to the poorer segments of the society, at comparatively cheaper rates than the market and to offer them a pleasant environment of mutual confidence while making their purchases. It is also committed towards its obligation to provide economic relief to the public by playing its role as a price moderator and deterrent to profiteering, hoarding and black-marketing."

To achieve this goal the federal government established Utility Stores Corporation (USC) in July 1971 and placed it under the control of Ministry of Industries, Production & Special Initiatives. The USC started its operations by taking over 20 stores from the Staff Welfare Organisation of the Establishment Division and gradually started increasing its numbers. To exercise better command and control, the USC established regional offices in different big cities to cater to the requirements of these additional stores. Some government and private departments also invited USC to open its stores for their employees for which they provided rent-free store accommodation. The USC also opened a large number of stores in different cities and towns by acquiring shops on rent at market rates.

During General Pervez Musharraf's government in 2002 the USC's financial position was fast falling and it was defaulting on huge amounts of banks and development finance institutions (DFIs). The USC owed Rs600 million to banks/DFIs.

Majority of these loans were extended to USC by the National Bank of Pakistan and Habib Bank limited.

In addition to reviving utility stores, the government is also planning to deploy price magistrate in the markets to check the prices. The decision shows that the government deems its presence in the market essential to protect the people from exploitation as was recently witnessed in the case of sugar and cement. However, it looks difficult that the idea of price magistrates would be effective as implementation of any law at the grass-root level has never been successful.

Patwari, originally a revenue collecting official in King Akbar reign, was assigned the task of arranging land record by the British Sarkar.

Today, 14,000 patwaris maintain the same monopolic position in the provincial boards of revenue as they historically did. He is the custodian of 17 registers containing various records -- like Register Haqdaran Zamindar, Register Khasra Gurdawri, Field Book, Register Inteqalat -- to maintain the record of rains, storms, thefts, dacoities and epidemics along with who owns which land and who sows what on a particular piece of land. In addition there is Roznamcha-e-Partal to maintain a record of officer's visits, Roznamcha-e-Hidayatee to have the record of the government's instructions on crop policy, land matters, revenue policy and so on, Roznamcha-e-Karguzaree to enlist his daily performance, Lal Kitab containing maps of crops and villages, Register Ujrat Naqool about the details of fees collected, and many other registers. All these registers need constant updating.

These registers are basic sources of data on livestock, crop production, average rains and even law and order. All these entries represent only the official side of his personality. There's another side to him -- the unofficial one. It's this side that cannot be overlooked to have a complete picture of his power and presence.

To begin with, patwari is the most vital figure of for all the fundraising at the tehsil level -- for lavish meetings of district authorities, for instance. Whenever some official of the revenue department or of district management needs to renovate his office in a grand manner, he assigns the Patwari to arrange money for that. The patwaris are also responsible for entertaining official and unofficial guests of the tehsil administration.

Before people start feeling envious of his immense powers, let it be stated that a patwari is actually a Grade-5 official with a monthly salary of around Rs 3000-3500. Only a tiny fraction patwaris has offices provided by the government (Tehsil Kharian of Gujrat district has 103 patwaris but only three of them have offices -- that too are about to collapse). So the patwaris are also expected to arrange for an office from themselves.

A patwari has a big patwar circle to take care of. Besides that he has has to be present at the tehsil headquarter for five days every month. But the government has not provided him even with a bicycle to perform these functions. Also, more often than not he is called upon by various courts -- like the district and the sessions court, the provincial high court, accountability courts, and anti-corruption establishments -- to present records for cases involving people living in his jurisdiction. On top of all that, he is given no extra travel or daily allowance for all these numerous appearances.

The patwari's method for meeting these needs is as direct as it is very well known -- he manges by being corrupt. He has nearly unbridled powers and people in his domain always need to be in his good books so that they don't fall on the wrong side of his unlimited authority. Which explains why they can be so easily used for extracting bribes.

One major venue for a patwari to earn some un-earned money is the farmers' or land owners' need to have every now and then 'fard' -- a copy of ownership record, an essential document for obtaining loans, for furnishing guarantee for obtaining bails in court cases, for obtaining a domicile certificate, for knowing about land transfers and for purchase, selling, mortgaging and leasing. With very few noble exceptions, every patwari charges heavily to providing this document. This price varies according to how easily or uneasily the patwari makes himself available. In most cases, it's with great difficulty that people can find him. They have to run from pillar to post -- from all over his patwar circle to the tehsil headquarter -- to get hold of him.

The second major source of earning for a patwari is 'manipulating' official fees to be charged at the time of land transfers. Provincial boards of revenue charge three per cent of the value of the land transferred and the district government charges one or two per cent of this value as fee. The patwari favours the parties involved in a land deal, assessing the value of the property in a way which incurs less than due fee. He thus decreases the government revenue and gets some portion of the money saved by the parties as bribe.

Tenants facing insecure land tenures due of his non-maintenance and non-updating of land record -- a practice which implicitly favours landowners -- are still another source of illegal money for a patwari.

With patwari having absolute power to play with land records with one stroke of a pen, most land records in Pakistan suffers from a lot of inaccuracies, creating ownership problems, leading to disputes over land rights, generating numerous property case, rendering official documents unreliable which at a macro-level complicates as big issues as obtaining aids and loans from international financial institutes.

The problem mostly pertains to how patwaris maintain their records. Since the colonial times, Persian digits and words have been used to make entries in his numerous registers and the tradition continues. In a country where more than half of the population cannot read and write in their mother tongue, deciphering a patwari's records as big an enigma as anyone.

It is generally said that a major reason for the failure of the 1973 land reforms lied in their poor implementation. Patwaris, in a very high number of cases collided with landowners and never informed the tenants that the reforms had changed their status. They continued to work on their fields as ever, without knowing that now they were the real owners of their farms, not someone else. Also, because of the poor maintenance of land record, the government was never able to crack down on those feudal lords who had frustrated the implementation of the reforms.

Successive governments have tried to curtail the patwari's influence. For instance, the government has curtailed patwaris' powers to determine Abiana, water revenue, by fixing a flat rate for its collection. This has come like a whiff of fresh air for poverty-stricken farmers, earlier vulnerable to the whims of a patwari.

E-governance is another issue that seeks structural reforms in a culture which revolves around a patwari. This reform has two aspects -- first, the computerisation of government functions and second is the provision of better interaction between the government and the people so that people may obtain direct access to records, rules and other official information. Under this reform, the government is computerising land records to thwart the patwaris' corruption.

So far, the impact of e-governance have been slow to emerge, where they emerged at all. The computerisation of land records, for instance, have been give a go ahead in Lahore and Kasur but no positive results have accrued from the exercise so far.

Perhaps it's time to offer all existing patwaris a golden handshake and make fresh recruitments in accordance with modern needs.

Even more important than that is creating awareness among people through 'mock exercises' about the processes of gaining access to official documents and government functionaries.