A time for shame

The heart-rending images of eight children, abandoned at the Edhi Foundation in Karachi, weeping as they realized their parents had left them at the orphanage for good, has moved many. The children, aged between five and 12 years, the offspring of three sets of parents, were brought in by their mothers who stated that poverty left them unable to care for them. The plan to dump the kids had clearly been thought out in advance by the parents. Two of the families are related; all are based in the same Korangi locality. The hapless women who left their distraught children are reported to have been in tears themselves as they parted with the five girls and three boys.

Perhaps even more than the acts of suicide carried out at a moment of desperate grief and desperation, this coldly calculated act of abandonment by parents who saw no other way out offers an insight into the terrible impact poverty is having on our society. From the account offered by the children, it appears the parents also harboured a hope that handing them over to a charity would enable the children to receive the schooling and care that they themselves could no longer offer. Three of the children had been pulled out of school a short time ago. It is moments such as those witnessed at the Edhi centre that bring the silent suffering of tens of thousands out into the open. In this particular case, Bilquis Edhi found a way out to end the misery of the children by donating a substantial amount of money to their parents and sending the children home. Prior to this, Bilquis Edhi said that she could think of no other precedent in which so many children had been handed over collectively by living parents. At least two other cases of mothers abandoning small children for reasons linked to abject poverty were reported earlier this year. In homes across the country, food price inflation has inflicted immense agony. There are countless mothers who report going to bed hungry so that their husbands and children can eat; many doctors who tell stories of children who fail to thrive primarily due to inadequate food to eat.

All of us know of these realities, even if we try to shut them out of our conscience for most of the time. The question is whether the story of the eight children has moved hearts and souls in Islamabad. Did their tear-streaked faces look out at our ministers and leaders from the newspapers placed on their desks? Did they make any kind of mark within the National Assembly? Were there any twinges of guilt as the luxury hotels, the limousines, the banquets and the other many perks that come with power were contrasted with the plight of the country's most vulnerable citizens? So far, the indifference of our leaders to the situation of people has been striking. Even as times grow harder, as finances dwindle, there has been no evidence of a willingness to adopt austerity in Islamabad. No planning for the future is in sight. Instead pretence of normalcy continues. We must see if this will change as poverty stares out at all of us more directly and small children suffer due to the inability, and unwillingness, of government to heed their desperate cries for help. The Edhis have found a very temporary solution to the saga but something sustainable has to be done quickly for the poor.

Ugly squabble

The running feud between the PML-N government in Punjab and the provincial governor, which has been simmering angrily since Mr Salman Taseer was appointed to his present post in May this year, has now assumed truly ugly proportions. The PML-N law minister has accused Taseer of indulging in 'immoral and un-Islamic' activities of various kinds and has suggested he be punished. He has also said the government does not see him as a part of the PPP setup but as a remnant of the Musharraf era.

By alluding to 'drink and dance parties' at the Governor's House, Law Minister Rana Sanullah has struck, as it were, below the belt. However it must be said that Mr Taseer himself has done little to create harmony in his province. Indeed, he often seems bent on stirring things up. Whether this is part of a broader strategy, as is suspected by many, or because he has at a personal level made no attempt at all to disguise his animosity to the PML-N is not clear. Most recently, it is two rather strongly worded letters sent to the Punjab chief minister, accusing him of failing to protect the sanctity of the courts against protesting lawyers and of not filling cabinet posts, which has irked the government. It can hardly be blamed for being annoyed. The governor is quite openly eager to act beyond the role of a figure-head. Indeed he has taken to commenting on almost every deed of the government, usually critically. The time has come for the centre to step in. The increasingly unpleasant war or words in Punjab is creating a great deal of unpleasantness. It is also marring smooth functioning of the provincial administration. A crisis in Punjab would damage democracy and the standing of the central government. For these reasons the games currently being played must be halted, the governor brought into line and a maximum effort created to re-build cooperation in a province where too much dirty linen has already been hung out in public.

Courage and the CII

As many had feared, the PPP government has demonstrated once more that it lacks a backbone. Instead, it flounders on as a spineless, jelly-fish-like entity, unable to move decisively in any direction or take a stand on key issues. The latest dismal demonstration of this has come in the National Assembly, where legislators demanded the sacking of the chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) and insisted its recent recommendations on the country's divorce laws were 'un-Islamic'. Outside parliament, orthodox clerics have predictably accused the CII of trying to usher in its own 'Sharia'. The PPP has apparently caved in immediately under this pressure, with two ministers informing the National assembly they had no link with the CII recommendations and would not entertain them. There has not even been an attempt to suggest the rational and well thought-out set of proposals at least be reviewed and discussed before being dismissed in this fashion. While all suggestions should indeed be discussed, there seems to be nothing in the recommendations on divorce to provoke such outrage.

Indeed, the CII needs to be commended for its proposals. They aim to free women of the many perils they currently face due to poorly defined and inadequate laws. Indeed they clarify matters for both parties in a marriage. The chairman of the Council is a well-established scholar in matters of religion, and all rational opinion holds the recommendations in no way deviate from religion. The PPP, led into the post-Zia period by a woman and claiming to stand for liberal values, should be ashamed of itself. As a political party it must find the strength to defend what it believes in and to stand by the CII rather than instantly distancing itself from the body in so cowardly a fashion.

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Regards,
P.R.