Pakistan Among Top Meat Consuming Nations

Media coverage of Pakistan's brisk Eid-ul-Azha livestock sales are a reminder that the nation is among the world's top ten consumers of goat meat and beef based on USDA data.

Pakistan's goat meat consumption of 779,000 tons in 2011-12 ranks it among the top 3 in the world. 1.7 million tons of beef consumption in Pakistan is ranked  9th among beef consuming nations. In addition, 834,000 tons of poultry meat consumption puts it among world's top 20.

Source: Economic Survey of Pakistan 2011-12

Along with rising meat consumption, there has also been a big surge in milk consumption with the ongoing livestock revolution in Pakistan. Pakistanis consumed nearly 39 million tons of milk in 2011-12, according to Economic Survey of Pakistan. This translates into 223 Kg of milk consumption per person which is about the same as the developed world's per capita milk consumption and more than twice that of neighboring India's 96 kg per capita.

Although meat consumption in Pakistan is rising, it still remains very low by world standards. At just 18 Kg per person, it's less than half of the world average of 42 Kg per capita meat consumption reported by the FAO.

Being mostly vegetarian, neighboring Indians consume only 3.2 Kg of meat per capita, less than one-fifth of Pakistan's 18 Kg. Daal (legumes or pulses) are popular in South Asia as a protein source.  Indians consume 11.68 Kg of daal per capita, about twice as much as Pakistan's 6.57 Kg.

Another ingredient popular in South Asian cuisine is vegetable oil.  It's an important source of fat and protein for a nutritious and tasty diet. Edible oil consumption soars during the holidays as hundreds of millions of people eat sweets and fried foods during the September-December festive season.   Pakistanis use about 20 Kg of oil, the per capita amount recommended by the World Health Organization, while Indians consume about 13 Kg per capita.

Source: USDA Report 2013

Celebratory occasions like Eid or Diwali push sugar consumption in South Asia. Pakistan's per capita sugar consumption is about 23 Kg while India's is about 20 Kg per person per year.

Fish Farming Growth in Pakistan. Source: FAO

Although still below average relative to the world, per capita consumption of meat, milk and edible oil is rising with rising incomes and standards of living in both India and Pakistan. As the dietary habits change, it'll be important for policy makers and health and fitness professionals to watch the changes and help educate the people about healthy eating.

Here's a video of MeatOne, a meat packer in Karachi:

Post by Meat One.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Livestock and Agribusiness Revolution in Pakistan

Pakistan's Rural Economy Showing Strength

Solving Pakistan's Sugar Crisis

Food, Clothing and Shelter in India and Pakistan 

Is India a Nutritional Weakling?

India Tops World Hunger Charts

Malala Moment: Profiles in Courage...Not!

Ordinary Pakistanis have responded to the barbaric attack on  courageous 14-year-old Swat schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai and her classmates by expressing outrage and demanding action against the perpetrators. They have poured out into the streets for prayers for Malala's speedy recovery.

 The cowardly attack on a teenage schoolgirl is shocking. But it should not be surprising. The Taliban have a long track record  in both Afghanistan and Pakistan of attacking anyone, regardless of age and gender, who disagrees with their goals or tactics. They have a record of using extreme violence to silence those who dare to criticize them. The Taliban have repeatedly said that do not believe in constitutional democracy, political processes and elections.


With the exception of some ANP,  MQM and PPP leaders, the rest of the political leadership in Pakistan has failed to rise to the occasion. Here are some recent cowardly statements on the subject of Taliban militancy by PTI and PML(N) leaders:

“Who will save my party workers if I sit here and give big statements against the Taliban.”  PTI Chief Imran Khan

"I will support military operation (against the Taliban) if you can guarantee peace after it."  PTI Chief Imran Khan

“Gen. Musharraf planned a bloodbath of innocent Muslims at the behest of others only to prolong his rule, but we in the PML-N opposed his policies and rejected dictation from abroad. If the Taliban are also fighting for the same cause then they should not carry out acts of terror in Punjab.”  PML (N) Leader Shahbaz Sharif

 Pakistan's coward politicians need to draw some inspiration from brave little Malala Yousufzai. The nation desperately needs courageous leaders at this moment in history. Pakistan's leaders, particularly those in the Opposition, are failing the basic test of leadership. They are paralyzed by the fear of the militants. They are begging the Taliban to spare them. They are unwilling to take any risks and demanding impossible guarantees of peace that no one can provide. This is a recipe for inaction in the face of the Taliban onslaught on innocent civilians.

Some, especially those in the politico-religious leadership, are promoting confusion to distract the people from the real threat Pakistan faces today. Samia Qazi, the daughter of Jamate-Islami leader Qazi Husain Ahmed, is orchestrating a social media and email campaign against 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai to tarnish her image by attacking the victim to deflect attention from the TTP's crimes. Qazi and her supporters are being deliberately disingenuous by claiming sympathy for Malala while at the same time they engage in a smear campaign against her to paint her as an American agent.

In a picture first tweeted by Samia Qazi and posted on social media sites, she claims that Malala is meeting American generals. In fact, there is no American general in it. It is actually a still frame from a documentary made by the New York Times, which specifies the footage is from a simple meeting with late Richard Holbrook, US diplomatic representative to the region in 2009, during which Malala asked the US for help in girls’ education in Pakistan. Samia Qazi should remember that, by her logic,  her brother, Asif Luqman Qazi, can also be found guilty by association because he must have met many Americans while attending Boston University in the United States.

Those who refuse to speak out against the Taliban out of fear or sympathy must remember this: If the Taliban succeed in acquiring power in Pakistan, they will not spare them because none of them will measure up to Taliban's expectations of a "good" Muslim.

Samia Qazi will be targeted by the Taliban because they will find her too well-educated and too outspoken for a woman. Asif Qazi will be considered by them as guilty of associating with Americans while in Boston. Imran Khan will face the Taliban's wrath for his past transgressions of engaging in alleged pre-marital sex and for marrying a Jewish woman.  The Sharif brothers will be unacceptable to them because they have no beards. Those in the media will be targeted for exercising their right to criticize them.

The Taliban will implement draconian laws in the guise of their extreme version of Sharia and enforce such laws with brutal religious police.  They will force all men to grow long beards and force burqa on all women. They will ban women's education and shut girls' schools. They will ban television as they did in Afghanistan when they ruled it. In short, the Taliban will find reasons to persecute all non-Taliban just as they did in Afghanistan in 1990s before the post-911 US invasion of Afghanistan.

Let there be no mistake: The phenomenon of Taliban is a Fitna not unlike the 11th century Isma'ili shia Hashasheen (Assassins) whom Marco Polo depicted as trained killers responsible for the systematic elimination of fellow Muslims, mostly Sunnis, who disagreed with them.

Na haq kai liye uththe to shamshir bhi fitna hai
Shamsheer hi kiya nara-e-takbeer bhi fitna hai

To prevent the Taliban from achieving their goals of dominance in Pakistan, the country needs a comprehensive strategy with both political and military components. Such a strategy must be regional to deal with the possibility of the Taliban crossing the Durand line for safe havens as part of their defense. It must begin with building broad popular support, if not consensus, to defeat the Taliban. It must include an effective education campaign led by the politicians and civil society as well as the mass media to end all confusion about the serious threat posed in Pakistan by all factions of  the Taliban who all share similar goals of taking control of the country to impose their dark vision in the name of Islam.  It must also include a decisive force component to militarily defeat the hard core leadership of the Taliban.

Here's a recent video discussion on the subject:



Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Pak Taliban Killing Spree Continues  

Appeasement in Swat

Pakistan's Growing Insurgency

Rising Intolerance in Pakistan
 
Fighting Agents of Intolerance in Pakistan

Muslim Scholars Must Fight Hate in Pakistan

South Asian Christians Celebrate Christmas in Fear

Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah's Vision

Pakistan Must Defeat Agents of Intolerance 

Celebrating Quaid-e-Azam M.A. Jinnah's Birthday

Pakistan's Top Fashion Models

Mass media revolution and rising consumption in Pakistan have spawned an impressive fashion scene in the last decade. It has given birth to a young and thriving fashion industry and created unprecedented opportunities for beautiful young professional models who show off a range of fashion apparel, cosmetics, jewelry and accessories as well as other consumer products and services to a rapidly growing brand-conscious middle class.It has also opened up export opportunities for brand-name textile and leather products and cosmetics and jewelry from Pakistan.

Here are some of the popular models often seen on TV and in print ads and on runways at frequent fashion shows in Pakistan and overseas:

1. Tehmeena Afzal:

2. Iman Ali:

Iman Ali

3. Amina Haq:

Amna Haq

 
4. Vaneeza Ahmed:

Vaneeza Ahmad

5. Nadia Husain:

Nadia Husain

6. Cybil Chaudhry:

Cybil Chaudhry

7.  Iraj Manzoor:

Iraj Mansoor

 8. Sunita Marshall:

Sunita Marshall

9. Mathira Khan:

Mathira Khan

10. Shanna Bukhari:

11. Veena Malik:

12. Meesha Shafi:

13. Mehreen Syed:

14. Amna Ilyas:

15. Ayyan Ali with other models:

Here's a video clip of Karachi Fashion Week 2011:



Here's a video shoot of Tehmeena Afzal:



TEHMEENA AFZAL / MS. MEENA SEXY VIDEO COMPILATION from TEHMEENA AFZAL on Vimeo.



Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Pakistani Cover Girls

Veena Malik Challenges Pakistan's Orthodoxy 

PakAlumni-Pakistani Social Network 

Huma Abedin Weinergate

Pakistan Media Revolution

Protest Music in Pakistan

Resilient Pakistan Defies Doomsayers

Life Goes On in Pakistan

Pakistani Entrepreneurs Survive Economic Downturn

Silent Social Revolution in Pakistan

Pakistanis Rank High on Happy Planet Index

Pakistan ranks 16th among 151 countries of the world on the Happy Planet Index (HPI) 2012, slightly behind Bangladesh in 11th place but well ahead of India in 32nd spot.

 Earlier, Gallup 2012 Wellbeing survey reported that 20% of Pakistanis say they are "thriving", down from 32% last year. However, the report also  showed that more of them are still better off than their neighbors in Bangladesh (16% thriving) and India (11% thriving). The number of those "thriving" increased in Bangladesh by 3% and declined in India by 6%.
 
Here are some of the possible reasons:

1. Pakistan has continued to offer much greater upward economic and social mobility to its citizens than neighboring India over the last two decades. Since 1990, Pakistan's middle class had expanded by 36.5% and India's by only 12.8%, according to an ADB report titled "Asia's Emerging Middle Class: Past, Present And Future.

 2. Rising consumption of durables (cars, motorcycles, tractors, Appliances) and non-durables (FMCGs or fast-moving consumer goods) as well as increasing cement sales are indicative of the underlying strength of the economy.

3. Pakistan's undocumented economy is continuing to thrive as seen in packed shopping malls and restaurants.

4. There are double digit increases in cash remittances flowing in to Pakistan from the world's seventh largest diaspora, rising 21.45 percent to $9.73 billion in the first nine months of the 2011/12 fiscal year.

5. Karachi stock index is booming, hitting new 4-year highs. Share prices are driven by healthy profits and foreign buying, making KSE-100 the third fastest growing index in the world.  

6. Even the preliminary official estimates are indicating that Pakistan's nominal per capita income has increased by 9% to $1,372 in 2011-12 from $1,258 in 2010-11.

7. Preliminary estimates are showing that poverty rate in Pakistan has declined from 17.2 per cent in 2008 to slightly over 12 per cent in 2011.

The Gallup survey confirms that only 28% of Pakistanis have confidence in their national government. In my view, it stems from the obvious failure of the state in delivering basic services such as rule-of-law, security and electricity to the people .  The best way to improve the wellbeing of the people is to improve governance, reduce corruption and persuade people to pay taxes to give the state more resources.

Coming back to HPI 2012, the Happy Planet Index website says that "the new HPI results show the extent to which 151 countries across the globe produce long, happy and sustainable lives for the people that live in them." "The overall index scores rank countries based on their efficiency, how many long and happy lives each produces per unit of environmental output", it adds.

 There are three components of HPI – life expectancy, experienced well-being and Ecological Footprint - that each country is measured on. The scores for each component are color-coded green (good), yellow (middling) and red (poor). An additional color-code deep red is used for countries with poor score in one of the three components of overall HPI score.

Among South Asian nations, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are rated as "middling", while Sri Lanka, Nepal and Myamar are rated poor.



The top-ranked countries are mainly from Latin America with Costa Rica occupying the top spot. The bottom of the list includes sub-Sharan African nations with Botswana at the bottom.



Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Upwardly Mobile Pakistan

Pakistanis Rank Above Neighbors on Gallup Well-being Index 2012

Economic Survey of Pakistan 2011-12

US Technical Analyst Bullish on Pakistan

Pakistan on Goldman Sachs' Growth Map

Pakistan's 64 Years of Independence

Goldman Sachs & Franklin-Templeton Bullish on Pakistan

Emerging Market Expert Investing in Pakistan

Pakistan's Demographic Dividend

Genomics & Biotech Advances in Pakistan

The Growth Map by Jim O'Neill

Pakistan Rolls Out 50Mbps Broadband Service

More Pakistan Students Studying Abroad

Inquiry Based Learning in Pakistan

Mobile Internet in South Asia

Online Courses at Top International Universities

US Seeding Venture Capital and Private Equity in Pakistan

US is providing $80 million to create multiple VC and PE funds in Pakistan. These funds will be run by professional fund managers who will be required to manage and raise additional money from other sources to start multiple funds. US Embassy in Islamabad told Express Tribune that they expect that "there will be substantial interest from local, regional and international investors”.

Polish Model:

The initiative is based on the Polish American Enterprise Fund model which was started with $140 million from US government and has now grown to several billion dollars of investable funds, according to Express Tribune.

US AID's Theodore Heisler said that co-investment was essential in bringing the size of each fund to a level where it can cover operating expenses. The funds will focus on investing in small and medium entrepreneurial companies which, the US Silicon Valley experience has demonstrated, are major drivers of innovation, economic growth and job creation. 

History of VC and PE Funds:

 In 2010, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) provided JSPE Private Equity Fund II $50 million with a target capitalization of $150 million.

Venture capital investing is not entirely new in Pakistan, according to Venture Beat. Silicon Valley insiders like Reid Hoffman, Mark Pincus and Joe Kraus, along with Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) and EPlanet Ventures have already started. In 2003, Hoffman, Pincus and Kraus invested in Monis Rahman, a Pakistani-American who left Intel for entrepreneurship. Rahman had successfully launched and sold a start-up in the Bay Area, eDaycare.com.

There are several investment firms in Pakistan, such as BMA Capital, Indus Basin Holdings and JS Private Equity, that offer examples of professionally managed funds. In addition, there are Social Entrepreneurial Funds like Acumen Fund, Dawood Foundation and Kashf Foundation which are very active in the SME sector in Pakistan.

Opportunity in Pakistan: 

Pakistan has the world’s sixth largest population, seventh largest diaspora and the ninth largest labor force. With rapidly declining fertility and aging populations in the industrialized world, Pakistan's growing talent pool is likely to play a much bigger role to satisfy global demand for workers in the 21st century and contribute to the well-being of Pakistan as well as other parts of the world.

 With half the population below 20 years and 60 per cent below 30 years, Pakistan is well-positioned to reap what is often described as "demographic dividend", with its workforce growing at a faster rate than total population. This trend is estimated to accelerate over several decades. Contrary to the oft-repeated talk of doom and gloom, average Pakistanis are now taking education more seriously than ever. Youth literacy is about 70% and growing, and young people are spending more time in schools and colleges to graduate at higher rates than their Indian counterparts in 15+ age group, according to a report on educational achievement by Harvard University researchers Robert Barro and Jong-Wha Lee. Vocational training is also getting increased focus since 2006 under National Vocational Training Commission (NAVTEC) with help from Germany, Japan, South Korea and the Netherlands.



A 2012 World Bank report titled "More and Better Jobs in South Asia" shows that 63% of Pakistan's workforce is self-employed, including 13% high-end self-employed. Salaried and daily wage earners make up only 37% of the workforce. Even if one chooses to consider just the 13% who are high-end self-employed as entrepreneurs, it's still a significant population willing to take risks who can do better with greater availability of venture and private equity money.
 
A recent Pew Survey of 21 countries reported that 81% of Pakistanis believe in hard work to achieve material success. Americans are the second most optimistic with 77% sharing this belief followed by Tunisians (73%), Brazilians (69%), Indians (67%) and Mexicans (65%).

Conclusion:

Promoting venture capital and private equity investments in Pakistan is a welcome initiative. It has the potential to unleash funding of new profitable ideas in small and medium size entrepreneurial businesses for significant returns to investors while also helping Pakistan achieve much needed economic stimulus with new jobs to lift more people out of poverty.  

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Pakistanis Lead the World in Faith in Hard Work

Entrepreneurial Pakistanis

Financial Services Sector in Pakistan

Venture Capital Investing in Pakistan

Minorities are Majority in Silicon Valley

String Food and Beverage Demand Draws Investments to Pak Agribusiness

Strong Earnings Propel Pak Shares to New Highs

Pakistan's Underground Economy

Tax Evasion Fosters Aid Dependence

Poll Finds Pakistanis Happier Than Neighbors

Pakistan's Rural Economy Booming

Pakistan Car Sales Up 61%

Resilient Pakistan Defies Doomsayers

Meeting the Heathcare Challenge of the 21st Century South Asia

It is a great challenge of the 21st century to provide the best possible universal health care at the lowest possible cost. It's in fact a dual challenge. While aging and obesity related diseases are the dominant concern in the West, there is continuing worry about more basic issues of hygiene, vaccination, nutrition and access to health care professionals in the developing world, including South Asia. What is common between these two is the increasing reliance on technology.





Technologies ranging from new toilets, water purification, bio-fortification, diagnostics and computing and communication to nano-biotechnology and bioengineering are being developed and deployed to prevent and fight all kinds of diseases around the world. In the video below I join a discussion of the current state of health care and how to meet the challenges of this century:



Vision 2047 from WBT TV on Vimeo.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

World Water Day: Water Scarce Pakistan 

Malnutrition Challenge in India and Pakistan 

Pak Lady Health Workers "Best in the World"

Obesity in America

India and Pakistan: Off-Track, Off-Target on Toilets

Fixing Sanitation Crisis in India

Food, Clothing and Shelter in India and Pakistan

Heavy Disease Burdens in South Asia

Peepli Live Destroys Indian Myths

India After 63 Years of Independence

Poverty Across India 2011

British Pakistan Wins "Re-invent the Toilet" Contest

Globalization of West's Hate Speech Against Muslims

Negative stereotyping of Prophet Mohammad has been the preoccupation of generations of Western writers from the time of the Crusades to the present day. Among those who have engaged in highly offensive portrayal of Islam's prophet are Italian poet-philosopher Dante Aligheri (1265-1321), Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos (1325-1450) and European "Enlightenment" leader François-Marie Arouet Voltaire (1694-1778). More recently, there have been attempts by Salman Rushdie (Satanic Verses), Kurt Westergaard (Danish Jyllands-Posten cartoons) and Nakoula Basseley Nakoula (Innocence of Muslims) to ridicule Muslims' most revered leader.

So What's New?

So one might ask as to what has changed in recent years? Why is the Muslim reaction so much stronger and more global than ever before? The answer is that the availability of the Internet, and particularly Google-owned Youtube, has made it possible for hate material to reach its intended target much more quickly than Dante's Divine Comedy or Voltaire's Mahomet could in the past.

The latest flare-up has so far claimed dozens of lives including the life of Chris Stevens, the US Ambassador to Libya. As if to add fuel to an already intensely burning fire, a French magazine has published fresh batch of insulting cartoons of Prophet Mohammad. And such western provocations from hateful bigots are almost certain to grow in number and intensity in the future.

Free Speech or Hate Speech?

 It appears that the US President Barack Obama and the Secretary of State Hilary Clinton understand the extremely dangerous implications for the United States of this ongoing escalation of hostility in the Muslim world. In fact, the White House asked Google to remove the offensive Youtube video, a request that was denied by Google as violation of the right of free speech. New York Times reported that Google's "policy is to remove content only if it is hate speech, violating its terms of service, or if it is responding to valid court orders or government requests. And it said it had determined that under its own guidelines, the video was not hate speech."

To defuse the situation, the US government has run ads in Pakistani media which show President Obama and Secretary Clinton denouncing the video and condemning the violence in response to it. Google's refusal to remove the offensive video from Youtube raises significant questions about the definition of free speech....a debate that is already raging for a different reason since the US supreme court's Citizens United decision which has opened the floodgates of big money to influence US politics and policies by the rich and the powerful for their own advantage.

Free Speech and Money:

 The questions of money and free speech are closely tied in America. Google removes thousands of Youtube videos everyday for commercial reasons. Like any other big corporation, Google decisions are guided more by its commercial interests than any other considerations. Here's how Tim Wu, the author of Master Switch, describes it in an article in The New Republic:  

YouTube, to be clear, isn’t an open forum (even if it sometimes seems that way). For one thing, Google uses an ingenious sex-detecting algorithm to preemptively yank porn. It also employs a complicated system to help copyright owners (mainly Hollywood) locate their works. Finally, the firm bans a long list of other content, including: “animal abuse, drug abuse, under-age drinking and smoking, bomb-making, graphic or gratuitous violence, gross-out videos, hate speech, predatory behavior, stalking, threats, harassment, intimidation, invading privacy, revealing other people’s personal information, inciting others to commit violent acts, and spam.”
  
Regardless of whether the latest offensive video constitutes hate speech or not,  US legal discourse often makes references to Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes opinion in the United States Supreme Court case Schenck v. United States in 1919. Here's what Justice Holmes wrote in his opinion:

The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic. [...] The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent.

 So the question now is whether the mass distribution of such material via the Internet presents "clear and present danger" that "will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent".

Why the Violence?

The violent reaction in the Muslim world also raise serious questions. For example, can the Muslims demand tolerance of their faith from others when they show such intolerance against minorities in their own countries? Do Muslims have a right to ask others to control their undesirable behavior without showing any restraint themselves?

Let me end this post by paraphrasing a Syrian activist's tweet:

The only thing that seems to enrage the Muslim world today is a movie, a cartoon or an insult, but not the pool of blood of their own fellow citizens shed by fellow Muslims in their own countries.

Here's a video clip of a recent discussion on the subject:



Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Growing Intolerance in Pakistan

Exposing Congressman King's Hypocrisy

FBI Entrapping Young Muslims

Fighting Agents of Intolerance in Pakistan

Muslim Scholars Must Fight Hate in Pakistan

South Asian Christians Celebrate Christmas in Fear

Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah's Vision

Pakistan Must Defeat Agents of Intolerance 

Celebrating Quaid-e-Azam M.A. Jinnah's Birthday

Strong Food & Beverage Demand Draws Investments in Pak Agribusiness

US venture investor Tim Draper, Swiss food giant Nestle, and American beverage titan Coca Cola are investing heavily in Pakistan's agribusiness.

Silicon Valley private equity investor Tim Draper, a well-known international venture capitalist, is quietly investing in Pakistan's agribusiness, the largest provider of food commodities in the Middle East, according to San Francisco Examiner.

The share of livestock in Pakistan's agriculture output nearly doubled from 25.3 percent in 1996 to 49.6 percent in 2006, according to FAO. As part of the continuing livestock revolution, Nestle is investing $334 million to double its dairy output in Pakistan, according to Businessweek. Reuters is reporting that the company has already installed 3,200 industrial-size milk refrigerators at collection points across the country to start the kind of cold storage chain essential for a modern dairy industry, and give farmers a steady market for their milk. In another development on the infrastructure front, Express Tribune has reported that  Pakistan Horti Fresh Processing (Pvt) Limited has invested in the world's largest hot treatment plant to process 15 tons of mangoes per hour for exports.  Hot water treatment  will also help reduce waste of fruits and vegetables by increasing shelf-life for domestic consumption.
 

The Coca-Cola Company is planning to invest another US$280 million by 2013 in Pakistan, according to BMI's Q3 2012 Food & Beverage Report for Pakistan.  Coke plans to channel the bulk of its capital expenditures towards increasing the production of its existing brands as well as expanding its overall beverages portfolio. Coca-Cola plans to introduce more juices and mineral water in the Pakistani market over the coming years. This strategy could diversify Coca- Cola’s presence beyond the carbonates sector and help it secure early footholds in the higher-value bottled water and fruit juice segments, which boast tremendous long-term promise.

In addition to foreign investors, big name Pakistani companies like Dawood Group's Engro, billionaire industrialist Mian Mansha's Nishat Group and former minister Jahangir Khan Tareen's JK Dairies are placing big bets on food and beverage market in the country. Annual milk consumption in Pakistan reached 230 kg per capita in 2005, more than twice India's per capita consumption, according to FAO.

Business Monitor International expects "Pakistani agriculture sector to reap record harvests for key crops such as rice, sugar and cotton owing to favorable weather in 2011 and the year-on-year increase in crop area following floods in 2010". "We expect the dairy, poultry and wheat industries to be the biggest beneficiaries of increased investment in the agriculture sector", adds BMI's report.

 Pakistan is world’s eighth largest consumer of food and food is the second biggest industry in the country, providing 16 per cent employment in production, according to report published in Express Tribune.  In addition to rising domestic demand, growth in agribusiness is supplemented by increased exports as Pakistan expands trade with new partners. BMI expects basmati rice to take up a greater share of the trade as production increases. Cotton production to 2015/16: 45.5% to 12.8 million bales. Increased demand from Europe and emerging markets will drive output. BMI also expect an increase in domestic farmers switching from rice and sugar to cotton cultivation. Sugar production to 2015/16: 22.1% to 4.8 million tons. Large-scale consumers such as confectioners, candy makers and soft drink manufacturers account for about 60% of the total sugar demand and will be the main drivers of growth.

Pakistan witnessed a livestock revolution follow Green Revolution. Here's how International Livestock Research Institute puts the dramatic changes in Pakistan's agriculture sector since the mid 1960s: 

 Since the mid 1960s, investment in Green Revolution technologies – high-yielding varieties of cereals, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation and mechanization of farm operations – significantly increased cereal crop productivity and output. Success in the crop sector created a platform for diversification of farm and non-farm activities in the rural areas including the livestock sector, especially the dairy sector. Some of the Green Revolution technologies had a direct impact on the dairy sector while others had an indirect impact. Increased cereal productivity and output helped to reduce prices of cereals relative to other commodities in both rural and urban areas. This, along with increased income from high crop-sector growth, created  demand for better-quality foods including livestock products. This created market opportunities and incentives for crop producers to diversify into higher-value products, such as milk, meat, vegetables and fruits.

Pakistan has made significant progress in agriculture and livestock sectors showing that it has the potential to feed its people well and produce huge surpluses to fuel exports boom. The continuation of this progress will depend largely on success in making needed public and private investments in energy and water infrastructure and education and health care.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

FMCG Consumption Boom in Pakistan 

Music Drives Coke Sales in Pakistan

World Bank Report on Pakistan Agribusiness

Pakistan's Sugar Crisis

FAO Livestock Sector Brief 2002 

Recurring Floods and Droughts

Poll Finds Pakistanis Happier Than Neighbors

Pakistan's Rural Economy Booming

Pakistan Car Sales Up 61%

Resilient Pakistan Defies Doomsayers

Land For Landless Women in Pakistan

Growing Water Scarcity in Pakistan

Political Patronage in Pakistan

Corrupt and Incompetent Politicians

Pakistan's Energy Crisis

Culture of Tax Evasion and Aid Dependence

Climate Change in South Asia

US Senate Report on Avoiding Water Wars in Central and South Asia

Indian Insiders' View of 1965 War

 "...a major battle the west of the Beas would end in the destruction of the Indian Army and thereafter allow the enemy (Pakistani) forces to push to the gates of Delhi without much resistance." 1965 WAR-The Inside Story by R.D. Pradhan                                    

As Pakistanis honor the memory of  their 1965 war heroes on Defense of Pakistan Day today, let us review some snippets of how the war looked from the other side. R.D. Pradhan and Harbakhsh Singh were both insiders who participated in the 1965 India-Pakistan war. While Pradhan was a civilian working for Indian Defense Minister Y.B. Chavan, General Harbakhash Singh was commanding Indian troops on the front-lines. Both have written books drawing upon their first-hand knowledge of how the war started, unfolded and ended in September, 1965.

In Chapter 8 titled "Of Cowardice and Panic" of his book "1965 War-The Inside Story", R.D. Pradhan describes the cowardice of Maj. Gen. Niranjan Prasad, the Indian general commanding officer in Lahore sector.  When Pakistan Defense Forces counter-attacked the intruding Indian military and the general was fired upon on Sept 6, 1965, he "ran away".  Here's an excerpt:


"On learning that, Lt. Gen. Harbakash Singh and the corps commander drove in a Jonga (Nissan P60 Jeep) to the battlefront. Army commander found that the enemy (PAF) air attack had created a havoc on G.T. Road. (Indian) Vehicles were burning and several vehicles of 15 Division abandoned on the road, the drivers having run away, leaving some of the engines still running. Maj. Gen. Niranjan Prasad was hiding in a recently irrigated sugar cane field. As described by Harabakash Singh: "He (Prasad) came out to receive us, with his boots covered with wet mud. He had no head cover, nor was he wearing any badges of his rank. He had stubble on his face, not having shaved." Seeing him in such a stage, Harbakhash Singh asked him: "Whether he was the General Officer commanding a division or a coolie? Why had he removed badges of rank and not shaved? Niranjan Prasad had no answer." 

Chapter 12 of Pradhan's book is titled "Retreat to Beas" in which there is detailed discussion of Indian COAS's proposal for the Indian Army to retreat behind Beas in the face of Pakistan's fierce counter-attacks after India's attempted incursion in Lahore. Pradhan argues in this chapter that during the 1965 war with Pakistan, Indian COAS General Chaudhuri feared that "a major battle the west of the Beas would end in the destruction of the Indian Army and thereafter allow the enemy (Pakistani) forces to push to the gates of Delhi without much resistance".

Pradhan's book contains many different entries by Indian Defense Minister Y.B. Chavan. A Sept 9, 1965 entry reads:  

Had a very hard day on all fronts. Very fierce counter-attacks mounted and we are required to withdraw in Kasur area. COAS was somewhat uncertain of himself. I suggested to him that he should go in forward areas so that he will be in touch of realities. He said he would go next day.


In Line of Duty: A Soldier Remembers, according to Shekhar Gupta, the editor of Indian Express, Lt Gen Harbakhsh Singh reveals that not only "did Gen Chowdhury play a very small role in the entire campaign, he was so nervous as to be on the verge of losing half of Punjab to Pakistan, including the city of Amritsar. Harbakhsh describes, in clinical detail, how our own offensive in the Lahore sector had come unhinged. The general commanding the division on Ichchogil canal fled in panic, leaving his jeep, its wireless running and the briefcase containing sensitive documents that were then routinely read on Radio Pakistan during the war. Singh wanted to court martial him, Chowdhury let him get away with resignation".

According to Shekhar Gupta, Harbkhash Singh recounts that a bigger disaster struck a bit to the south where the other division cracked up in assault, just as it encountered a bit of resistance. Several infantry battalions, short on battle inoculation, deserted and Singh gives a hair-raising account – and confirmation of a long-debated rumor – that Chowdhury panicked so badly he ordered him to withdraw to a new defensive line behind the Beas, thereby conceding half of Punjab to Pakistan. Singh describes the conversation with Chowdhury at Ambala where he refused to carry out the order, asking his chief to either put it down in writing or visit the front and take charge of the battle.

 Beyond the Indian insiders quoted above,  here is how several non-Pakistani journalists have covered the war:

The London Daily Mirror reported in 1965:

"There is a smell of death in the burning Pakistan sun. For it was here that India's attacking forces came to a dead stop.

"During the night they threw in every reinforcement they could find. But wave after wave of attacks were repulsed by the Pakistanis"

"India", said the London Daily Times, "is being soundly beaten by a nation which is outnumbered by four and a half to one in population and three to one in size of armed forces."

In Times reporter Louis Karrar wrote:

"Who can defeat a nation which knows how to play hide and seek with death".

USA - Aviation week - December 1968 issue:

"For the PAF, the 1965 war was as climatic as the Israeli victory over the Arabs in 1967. A further similarity was that Indian air power had an approximately 5:1 numerical superiority at the start of the conflict. Unlike the Middle East conflict, the Pakistani air victory was achieved to a large degree by air-to-air combat rather than on ground. But it was as absolute as that attained by Israel.

India was the first to accept UN sponsored ceasefire (page 100 of RD Pradhan's book)  followed by Pakistan which brought the 1965 war to an end on Sept 22, 1965. As the ceasefire took effect, Indian Defense Y.B. Chavan wrote in his diary as follows:

"The ball is now in the political court again--where it should be--and not in the military one. I hope we have the vision and courage to (our) political leadership."
  
Alas, the core issue of Kashmir still remains unresolved 47 years since Mr. Chavan wrote his words of wisdom.


Related Link:

 Haq's Musings

Demolishing Indian War Myths 

Kashmiris Remain Defiant

India-Pakistan Military Balance

Assessing Pakistan Army Capabilities

Can India "Do a Lebanon" in Pakistan?

Pakistan's Defense Industry Going High-Tech

Rising Tide of Intolerance Threatens Pakistan's Existence

A spate of incidents targeting various minorities including Christians and Hindus as well as members of the Muslim Shia community have raised serious concerns in Pakistan.

 This situation brings back echoes of the events preceding the rise of Nazis in Germany that led to the killing of millions of innocent people including a large number of European Jews. A German pastor Martin Niemöller (1892-1984) wrote a poem at the time lamenting the silence of many in the face of massive atrocities committed by Adolf Hitler.


Here's how I express my fears about the current crisis of intolerance in Pakistan by paraphrasing what Niemöller said in 1930s:

First they came for Ahmedis, and I did not speak out
-- Because I was not an Ahmedi.

Then they came for the Christians, and I did not speak out
-- Because I was not a Christian.

Then they came for the Hindus, and I did not speak out
-- Because I was not a Hindu.

Then they came for the Shias, and I did not speak out
-- Because I was not a Shia.

Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.

I urge all sane Pakistanis to speak out against all agents of intolerance and work diligently to defeat them before it's too late. 

Here are two videos of  recent TV discussions I participated in on the subject:







Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Fighting Agents of Intolerance in Pakistan

Muslim Scholars Must Fight Hate in Pakistan

South Asian Christians Celebrate Christmas in Fear

Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah's Vision

Pakistan Must Defeat Agents of Intolerance 

Celebrating Quaid-e-Azam M.A. Jinnah's Birthday