Pakistan

After the trumpets and the fanfare has come the mournful dirge lamenting the ‘failure’ of the India-Pakistan summit at Agra. An expected reaction perhaps, but a trifle hasty. For after all, it would seem that the summit floundered on two old issues, cross border terrorism and the centrality of a resolution on Kashmir to the mitigation of IndiaPakistan tensions. Given this it is hard to see why there is such a desperate urgency about issuing a final report card on the summit. Surely, the two days of president Musharaff’s visit were not expected to unravel the many snags and snarls in the fabric of India-Pakistan relationship? Then again, in the light of the history of other high-level meetings between the two countries, the success or failure of a summit can only be reckoned by what happens afterwards. And in that sense surely it is too early to issue a report card on Agra?

The Sindh Katchi Abadi Authority, led by Tasneem Ahmad Siddiqui, has devised a cost-effective model of housing for the urban poor in the Pakistani province. The objective is to tap ordinary people's ingenuity while improving and legalising their living conditions. The model has been so successful that it has won Siddiqui global recognition.