EDUCATION, HEALTH AND AGRICULTURE CAN BEAT EXTREMISM IN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 LAHORE 000123 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EAGR EAID PTER PK SUBJECT: EDUCATION, HEALTH AND AGRICULTURE CAN BEAT EXTREMISM IN SOUTH PUNJAB ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Improved education, health care and economic development can counter the rise of extremism in south Punjab, politicians and administrators told a USAID and State delegation that visited south Punjab June 2-8. Local leaders in Multan, Bahawalpur, Khanewal, Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur suggested that better schools with board and lodging, along the lines of the "Danish" schools proposed by the Punjab provincial government, in addition to an improved curriculum and more responsible teachers would counter the inclination by poor families to rely on the free facilities provided by the madrassahs. More accessible health care facilities, better staffed basic health units and more plentiful drinking water would also alleviate illnesses that debilitate the poor in the south, they counseled. An upgraded agricultural sector, with intact farm-to-market chains, enhanced livestock production and sufficient irrigation, will put additional income in the hands of the farmers who dominate the south, they noted. The politicians, administrators and businessmen unanimously encouraged the U.S. to make its assistance visible and well-known. End summary. - - - Education: Better Education Could Counter Radical Madrassahs - - - ¶2. (SBU) During a June 2-8 visit to Multan, Bahawalpur, Khanewal, Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur districts in south Punjab by a USAID and State team, many interlocutors prioritized education as the most effective tool to combat the spread of extremist madrassahs in south Punjab. Multan Division Commissioner Muhammad Ali Gardezi stated that "the number one priority is the need to match the facilities of madrassahs with a proper education system." Khanewal District Nazim Ahmad Yar Hiraj complained that "education in south Punjab has been negligent in the past," and he estimated that Khanewal needed 1700 more schools. ¶3. (SBU) As evidence of the poor education in south Punjab, District Coordination Officers argued that their districts fell far below the provincial indicators. Multan males in rural areas were 41.6 percent literate and females 16.2 percent, compared to the 54 percent literacy in the province. Khanewal literacy reached 44.9 percent overall. Overall female literacy in Dera Ghazi Khan stood at 24 percent, 20 percentage points below the provincial average for females. Bahawalpur, with a 35 percent literacy rate, had a 49:1 student-teacher ratio. Khanewal also faced a 16 percent vacancy rate in teaching staff. The discrepancy between the north and south has compelled Islamia University (one of only two universities in the entire southern region) to begin a tutoring program for freshman students from the south who face a disadvantage in comparison to the better educated students from north Punjab, Vice-Chancellor Dr. Bilal A. Khan confided June 3. ¶4. (SBU) In order to match the growth of madrassahs, many leaders pointed to the provincial government's initiative to establish "Danish" schools, which would provide board and lodging to the poorest of the poor. Punjab Chief Secretary Javed Mahmood described June 2 that the effort will establish up to 90 schools in the southern districts, each governed by its own Board of Governors. "This is an effort to win away students from the madaris," he explained. Bahawalpur Commissioner Muhammad Mushtaq Ahmad noted June 3 that the data collected under the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) will identify which "poorest of the poor" students qualify for the Danish program. He confirmed that the province has transferred land for eight schools in Bahawalpur, while tehsil nazims in Multan related that Khanewal and Muzaffargarh has also set aside land for the Danish program. ¶5. (SBU) Several interlocutors stressed that curriculum, teaching practices and maintenance of schools mattered more than the provision of education facilities. Faisal Imam, a politician and agriculturalist based in Khanewal, complained that the curriculum offered in public schools has little applicability after graduation. Former Deputy District Nazim Syed Irfan Ahmad Gardezi from Bahawalpur highlighted the absence of "grooming" in the schools because at the moment, "we're not teaching people to love Pakistan and not to get involved in terrorism." Rajanpur District Nazim Raza Khan Dreshak criticized the lack of accountability for teachers, who frequently acquired their positions thanks to political LAHORE 00000123 002 OF 004 connections. He claimed that he found several teachers who had received remuneration while vacationing in Dubai or languishing in prison. Multan District Nazim Mian Faisal Mukhtar complained that schools lacked boundary walls and furniture, and suffered from general neglect. - - - Health: More Accessible Health Care Needed - - - ¶6. (SBU) Lack of health care plagues the southern districts, DCOs detailed. Compared with the provincial under 5 mortality rate of 112 per 1000, Rajanpur had 128, Bahawalpur 142, and Dera Ghazi Khan 147. Forty-five percent of children in Dera Ghazi Khan were underweight (34 percent in the province),and professional attendants delivered only 22 percent of births in Rajanpur (32 percent in Punjab). The Bahawalpur DCO contended that the district had 8,207 patients for every doctor. Compounding the lack of facilities, those that existed attracted people from outside the province, producing even more severe overcrowding. Thus, residents of Baluchistan and Dera Ismail Khan traveled to Multan for treatment, while Baluchistan and Sindh residents packed the wards of Dera Ghazi Khan's three hospitals, the DCOs related. ¶7. (SBU) In order to fix the overstretched health care infrastructure, officials and politicians suggested adding health facilities. Because the Bahawalpur District Hospital now served twice its capacity, the DCO advised construction of a new hospital. The Multan Commissioner listed cancer, eye and teaching hospitals at the top of his needs. Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Sardar Saif-ud-Din Khosa noted that while every tehsil in Dera Ghazi Khan has a hospital, the district headquarters hospital in the city and the Taunsa tehsil hospital are 90 kilometers apart, requiring a long trip for anyone who lived between them. ¶8. (SBU) Accessibility remained a problem, particularly in south Punjab's more remote areas, contacts related. Ikram Ullah Khan of the Cholistan Development Authority noted that while the Cholistan desert area had sufficient Basic Health Units (BHU), the units lacked doctors. He saw mobile units as a potential solution. Sardar Fateh Muhammad Khan Buzdar, chief of the Buzdar tribe, reported that his tribe had no road access to the closest BHU. In a separate meeting, Acting Dera Ghazi Khan District Nazim Asim Zubair Khosa described how the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA) deal with emergencies: "When someone has a temperature, he is wrapped in goatskin to bring the temperature down." He also noted that frequent power failures in remote areas prevent BHUs from storing medicine and antidotes, without they cannot address their two most frequent health problems: (1) treating snakebites and (2) providing safe deliveries for women. ¶9. (SBU) Because many observers pointed to the large size of families as a constant source for new religious students, a few suggested implementing better family planning programs. Bahawalpur's Gardezi pointed out that "a husband and wife are unable to feed ten children," and as a result, they send a few boys to the local madrassah. The Acting Nazim in Dera Ghazi Khan echoed, "uncontrolled population growth is the root cause of all problems." "They only become aware of planning tools after they have a huge family," he said. Dera Ghazi Khan MNA Khosa surmised that bringing mobile units to the countryside would make discreet family planning services available to women, who must now go to the city, with their husbands, to obtain advice. ¶10. (SBU) Several contacts addressed the lack of drinking water as the underlying cause of poor health. Multan Commissioner Gardezi observed that the provision of clean water would eradicate waterborne diseases such as Hepatitis. Multan tehsil nazims counseled that canals must bring sweetwater to rural areas, where brackish water remains prevalent. Acting Dera Ghazi Khan District Nazim Asim Zubair Khosa described the acute water shortage problem in the PATA, where water pipes have degraded. Buzdar tribe chief Sardar Fateh Muhammad Khan stated that his sparsely populated, arid area requires more handpumps to provide drinking water. MNA Khosa recalled that the government had attempted to introduce drinking water schemes managed by "user committees," but "all the money went to waste." LAHORE 00000123 003 OF 004 - - - Agriculture: Improve Horticulture and Livestock - - - ¶11. (SBU) Most people in South Punjab rely on agriculture for their livelihood, officials underlined. According to Commissioner Muhammad Ali Gardezi, 60 percent of the people in Multan district, the most urban district in the south, depend on farms for their income. But degraded canals, brackish groundwater, nonexistent processing centers and fragmented land have hampered development of the sector. ¶12. (SBU) Irrigation management would help sustain the farms that exist and allow more cultivation of land, officials suggested. Every DCO and Commissioner recommended brick-lining the extensive canal network that reaches across south Punjab, which they believed would stop seepage and pilferage. A Community Organization leader in Khanewal told the delegation that 20 farmers had decided to pool funds and take out a loan to restore a nearby water channel under the Provincial Rural Support Program. The Bahawalpur Commissioner, among others, also advised that drip irrigation would conserve water and enable farmers to cultivate more land, especially in the Lesser Cholistan. DCO Amin Chaudhry reported that Rajanpur contained 82 drip irrigation schemes ongoing. ¶13. (SBU) Leaders in Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur districts pressed for management of the annual hill torrents, which caused two devastating flash floods in 2008. According to MNA Khosa, channeling the hill torrent water could irrigate up to 70,000 acres in the PATA area and capture the rich silt that had previously disappeared into the floods. Former MPA Farhat Mazari in Rajanpur promoted the construction of small dams to harness the flash floods, which would provide an "independent irrigation system." ¶14. (SBU) Farmers and academics criticized the disconnect between research and the field. Mango Growers Association President Zahid Hussain Gardezi lamented that Pakistan has "no horticulture extension service, which makes growers ignorant of proper practices or equipment." Khanewal's Faisal Imam proposed modeling land grant colleges after those in the U.S. Vice-Chancellor Khan noted that he started an agriculture degree three years earlier at Islamia University, but only associate professors have joined the program so far. A representative from the Bahawalpur Chamber of Commerce complained about the absence of hybrid seeds developed domestically. ¶15. (SBU) Business representatives also called for better infrastructure to bring the produce to market. Ehsan Rashid of the Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry pointed out the lack of processing facilities, particularly a halal meat manufacturing center. Gardezi of the Mango Growers pointed out that farmers throw out 40 percent of B and C grade mangoes because they lack a facility that can turn the fruit into pulp, dried fruit, jam or pickles. ¶16. (SBU) South Punjab's reliance on livestock also presents an opportunity for job growth. According to the DCO, Dera Ghazi Khan ranks first in numbers of sheep (1.12 million) and goats (1.53 million) in the province. Cholistan Authority Ikhram Ullah Khan related that the 1.6 million cattle far outnumber the 157,000 people who populate desert. He noted that the herders face lower profit margins in livestock than interest rates on loans, which could potentially create circular debt for the already poor area. Islamia University had initiated an animal health project to develop milk collection centers with chillers, wool shearing facilities, a cattle market and livestock production. Dera Ghazi Khan Commissioner Iftikar Ali Sahoo also proposed mobile veterinary units to serve the PATA residents who depend more on livestock than produce. He also pointed out that only 4 percent of milk production in his district is processed. - - - Infrastructure: Better Integration and Energy - - - ¶17. (SBU) As shown by the sturdy highways on which the delegation traveled throughout the south, several contacts criticized the attention paid to the road network. "There is overinvestment in roads, but the roads are not helping the poor people," observed Cholistan Development Authority's (CDA) Khan. LAHORE 00000123 004 OF 004 However, the Buzdar chief in PATA prioritized a paved road, which would link his 70-kilometer-long area with the cities better than the dirt lane over which the delegation traversed. Former MPA Farhat Aziz Mazari advised that a bridge over the Indus to connect Rajanpur with its Punjab neighbors (as opposed to Kashmore district in Sindh, where Rajanpur's only bridge over the Indus leads) would provide a "visible sign of U.S.-Pakistan friendship." Khanewal's Faisal Imam also suggested that a large airport in south Punjab would enable farmers to ship their produce by overseas cargo more quickly. ¶18. (SBU) Other infrastructure improvements would also better south Punjab's livelihoods, local leaders said. While energy shortages plague most of Pakistan, the sun-drenched, rural areas in the south could benefit from solar projects. Three villages in Cholistan currently operate on solar energy, related CDA's Khan, while the Buzdar chief asked that electrification reach his tribe in the PATA. The Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur Chambers of Commerce both suggested in separate meetings that an industrial estate could promote business in the most deprived areas by providing a reliable infrastructure. However, Faisal Imam recounted that an industrial estate established by the government in Khanewal went unused because it lacked buildings, gas and road accessibility. - - - Comment: Needs Are Many, the How is the Question - - - ¶19. (SBU) While the administrators, businessmen, politicians and local leaders cataloged a long list of ways to fight extremism through poverty alleviation, they unanimously made clear that they welcomed U.S. assistance. Contacts reiterated a constant refrain that the U.S. must make its aid activities visible and well known. While the numerous police protection provided to the delegation reflected an uncertain security environment, the delegation experienced warm hospitality in every district. With education, health and agriculture at the clearly top of the list, the question now becomes how. HUNT