The Indian Express brings you clippings from the Pak mediaSharif was depressed: British MPDawn: Deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, now under arrest for alleged treason and conspiracy to murder, is unhurt but depressed, a British MP said Thursday. Chaudhry Sarwar met Sharif on Monday, while he was still in Islamabad under military detention. Nawaz told Sarwar his turbulent 30 months in office were plagued by a spate of crises. ``I had crisis after crisis. I wonder what wrong I have done in the past 30 months for which I am being punished,'' Sarwar quoted the former premier as saying. The Pakistan-born British lawmaker said the deposed premier appeared worried. ``He was depressed,'' Sarwar said. Sarwar said he did not discuss the murder conspiracy case as Nawaz was already depressed. Sarwar said Gen. Musharraf had assured him there would be a fair trial.Loan recovery tests reaction to reformsDawn: The country at present has a multi-tier system at the top with the NSCpresided over by General Musharraf and below it is the cabinet. There was to be a third tier in the form of a large think-tank but that appears to have been substituted by the National Reconstruction Bureau. There is a fourth tier too in the form of a monitoring system by the corps commanders which would include 180 colonels spread all over the country. Will not the multiplicity of such bodies at the top delay decision-making?Of course, the immediate attention of the nation is on the outcome of the drive for recovering defaulted bank and non-performing loans. Loan recovery is imperative to put the banks on sound financial foundations and enable them to give new loans at reduced interest rates. In fact, the success of the loan recovery drive is a test of the possible popular reaction to the varied reforms to come in which the people have to play their part.The fact is that no government can achieve success in its overwhelming task. But, merely a high rate of development is not enough. Distributivejustice is equally important. There are demands for land reforms as the feudal lords not holding high offices are packing the assemblies now. Musharraf says land reforms are a contentious issue and leaves it at that. The fact is that very large land holdings do not achieve optimum levels of production while small farms do. Absentee landlordism and modern farming for optimum output do not go together. So land reforms are absolutely essential.The land reforms should come with a strong cooperative system that helps the small farmers in buying their inputs and selling their output besides meeting their financial needs.
