What is the first thing that comes to your mind about Pakistan? For instance, it might be the destruction caused by the recent flood disaster. The picture after the disaster will most likely not be erased from your memories easily. Or, you might think about Afghanistan. If you hear the word Pakistan, you will immediately recall the name Afghanistan. Recent news in the media reveals that there is a dispute on Afghanistan between the US and Pakistani governments. First, Pakistan cut off the path of the NATO troops to the supply base setting forth the missile attacks by the US towards Pakistani military forces. Then the US media featured a film about how the Pakistani troops in Afghanistan killed unarmed Afghani civilians. All of these are sure important, but what I immediately think of about Pakistan nowadays is the fate of the Competition Commission of Pakistan. And I believe that a good understanding of the above picture will be of great use in explaining the fate of Competition Commission of Pakistan. Let us see how.

Have you ever visited Pakistan? On my way from Islamabad airport to the hotel, I remember thinking 'this place is too crowded' and 'is too poor'. Another thing was that there were military checkpoints on the both sides of the road. But to be honest, those are not shocking for me anymore. I was quite terrified about the military checkpoints in Beirut in mid-1990s. In Lebanon you had to cross checkpoints entering Syrian, Hezbollah, and others' territories. There stood boys with civilian clothes, holding Kalashnikovs. It was quite creepy. I think Beirut was the first place I checked on the other side of the world where I visit quite often nowadays. Anyway, my first impression about Islamabad was that it was 'crowded and poor'. I do not remember thinking that the city is dangerous. Albeit, the hotel I stayed in during that first trip was later bombed. The one I dined at was also bombed. Back then, Benazir Butto was alive. But I still do not consider Pakistan specifically dangerous. I just think that this is what you will probably witness in the region in the east of Turkey.

Surface area of Pakistan is close to Turkey's: 795 thousand square km approximately. And the population is 170 million. That is, it is a crowded country. On the other hand, its GDP is around 50% of Turkey's GDP. In this respect, we can roughly say that per capita income in Pakistan is one fourth of that in Turkey. Compared to Turkey, then, Pakistan is crowded and poor. Nonetheless, the importance and the number of private firms in economic activity increase gradually. I will talk about the economic activities of Pakistani army someday. It is not today's focus.

Today's focus is Competition Commission of Pakistan. Let us talk about this now. Competition Commission of Pakistan's story is like an arabesque movie. The Commission was established in 2007. On March 26, 2010, it legally disappeared as the ordinance forming the basis for its establishment was not approved by the Parliament. This lasted for 22 days. Then, a new law was prepared to give an end to this shameful situation. But right before the approval of the law hit the flood disaster. The Parliament could not convene. So, the Competition Commission of Pakistan disappeared again as of August 16. On September 24 the parliament passed the law and the Commission regained its legal entity.

Since 2007 it seems as if some people in Pakistan make special effort to disable institutional development and establishment of independent administrative authorities in the country. But in fact Pakistan's problem lies at the opening of the domestic market to competition. This is exactly why Pakistani people pay more than neighboring countries for cement and sugar, for instance. Why? The reason is quite simple: because in Pakistan signing collusion is considered as a usual business practice. There are twenty three cement factories in Pakistan. And the 'Union of Cement Producers' have already decided in 2003 how much and to which region each factory will deliver. How did I learn this? Obviously from the enquiry reports of the Competition Commission of Pakistan. Due to the above said practice, the Commission imposed fines on both the cement and the sugar cartel. President Zerdari deals closely with the Competition Commission since then with 'purely material' concerns. He somewhat refrained from signing the ordinance proposed in late 2009. Then, he introduced a regulation reducing the income sources of the institution and harming its financial autonomy. Why? As I said before, with purely material concerns: he has cement and sugar factories.

Institutional development is a hard task to achieve. And the progress Turkey made is quite impressive.

The main problem of the region in the east of Turkey is that the institutional infrastructure is weak. The problem is the lack of the dominance of rules. Such is life in places where rule of the king dominates the rule of the rules. And this is not good.

But we have hope: Where does the hope lie? It lies in the fines the Competition Commission of Pakistan imposed in 2009. These decisions give hope for the normalization of things in Pakistan. Let go the military affairs or such; the hope rises from the Competition Commission of Pakistan.

This commentary was published in Referans daily on 02.10.2010