Storing anger

More than half of the 1.5 million population of Gaza are children, and those that grow up in years to come are going to carry with them the memory of their experiences of the latest of many attacks by Israel on their homeland. The death toll has now passed 500 with over 2,300 injured, and both numbers are going to rise. Amid the sound and the fury of the fighting there are some notable silences, and two of them stand out. On the 20th of this month Barack Obama is going to be sworn in as the new American president; a man of whom there are great expectations. Thus far he has made no comment on the carnage in Gaza, nor has any of his aides – and perhaps most significantly nothing has been heard from Hilary Clinton who as the new foreign policy supremo may have been expected to offer at least an even-handed condemnation of the violence. But nothing but silence. It may be that as one observer has put it 'America can only have one President at a time' and that Obama would be jumping the gun were he to pronounce on such an important issue before taking office. Yet surely a form of words could have been found to at a minimum express concern at the burgeoning humanitarian crisis? Apparently not.

The other area in which silence, or at least some muted muttering is heard - is the Muslim world. Beyond some anxious hand-wringing there has been little by way of forthright and powerful condemnation of Israeli aggressions and the killing of innocent women and children. Muslims worldwide are appalled at what they are seeing. But where are the organizations like the OIC which may be assumed to speak for most of the Muslim world? The answer is, apparently, sitting in the background and trying not to upset anybody - least of all the Americans. The twin silences of Obama and the collective Muslim world speak to us. On the one hand we may be seeing the first indications of which way the Obama presidency is going to swing regarding an issue crucial to the Muslim world generally; and on the other we see the weakness of the institutions which may be said to represent the Muslim world. Between the two silences sit the children of Gaza, storing both anger and energy against the day when they are old enough to discharge both destructively. The vast human battery that is Gaza is unlikely to be drained by Israeli action, rather the reverse is true – a fact which seems to have escaped the Israeli planners of foreign and military policy.


The arrest of Mumtaz Bhutto, the chief of the Sindh National Front and a cousin of the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, has immediately created waves across Sindh. Protests have been staged and a partial strike observed in Larkana and some other towns, where shops were closed. The PPP says SNF workers forced traders to down shutters. Bhutto, a fiery critic both of the late Benazir Bhutto and President Asif Ali Zardari, has been accused of threatening journalists at a Karachi-based newspaper. His party dismisses these accusations as ludicrous and says a delegation had simply visited the offices of the publication to seek better coverage. This, as everyone in the media industry knows, is a routine matter. Mumtaz Bhutto's son has made an open charge of blatant victimization by the PPP as revenge for his father's harsh criticism of the president. Certainly the arrest, with Bhutto first placed under house arrest at his home village near Larkana and then taken to Karachi, seems rather unusual. The explanation by the Sindh information minister regarding the action and her insistence that it was a purely legal and administrative measure will convince only a few. This is especially true as during her press conference, Shazia Marri lashed out against Mumtaz Bhutto accusing him of working against Sindh and as such, of not being a Sindhi nationalist, as he claims to be.

There is a sinister undertone to the whole affair. The perception is that the criticism by SNF leaders and workers in Larkana of Asif Zardari had ruffled feathers. There have also, in recent weeks, been whispers about threats made to others, including newspaper columnists, who have been critical of the president. It is impossible to determine how much of all this is true. Misinformation campaigns directed against democratic governments are after all not unusual in our part of the world. But then, on the other hand, neither are attempts to stamp out dissent. Certainly, the arrest of a senior politician, respected in many circles, even if his views were often controversial, has raised many suspicions and doubts. The incident has also added to perceptions that the government is, in many ways, simply continuing the policies seen in the past. We must hope that the elected government has not chosen to resort to high-handed tactics. In the past such measures have eventually weakened rather than strengthened the leaders who employ them.


The tragedy at a coalmine in Mach that killed eight people is a reflection on the precarious conditions under which thousands in the country labour. Miners who tried desperately to save their colleagues after a gas explosion ignited a fire in the mine over 1000 feet below the surface, have said there was no safety equipment or warning systems at the mine. A similar incident had taken place at the same mine two years ago but the owners did not install mechanisms that could more effectively protect lives. The fact that the mine is reportedly owned by a federal minister is also saddening. Our public representatives should be leading the way in setting examples for people and ensuring that rules are followed. The fact is that they, too often, do just the opposite, using power and privilege to cover their tracks.

The mine explosion is a reminder too of the disregard for safety of workers at most places where hazardous work takes place. The lives of poverty-stricken labourers and miners are, after all, dispensable in a society such as ours where money and power count for everything. Dozens of cases are reported each year of workers being maimed, wounded, or killed in accidents at workplaces. Some tumble into furnaces, others die while attempting to repair faulty equipment. Only a tiny handful receives compensation of any kind. Families who lose wage-earners must, one way or the other, struggle to survive. Laws that exist to protect welfare are extremely poorly enforced. Inspections rarely take place, and when they do bribery is a common way to prevent complaints being registered. There is a desperate need to ensure this situation changes. The mining sector, where child labour remains rampant, is one of those in need of most urgent attention. Too many lives have been lost over the years due to accidents such as the one at Mach. More such deaths must be prevented by putting in place adequate precautions and ensuring rules are adhered to.

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Regards,
P.R.