Ominous conditions

Monday, 13 Apr, 2009

THE systematic pressure being exerted on Pakistan is souring relations with America by the day. The latest setback comes in the form of conditions attached by the US to a new aid bill for Pakistan. In an ill-advised departure from practical politics, the bill contains India-specific clauses that are bound to raise yet more hackles in Islamabad and the GHQ. It seems the Obama administration has bought the Indian line on Pakistan hook, line and sinker. America, apparently, has come to see South Asia through the eyes of India, a country whose regional ambitions have always been viewed with suspicion by its neighbours. Foreign assistance almost invariably comes with strings attached, but such provisos generally apply to worldwide commitments or capacity-building undertakings by the recipient country. Introducing the India factor changes the picture completely and makes the US approach wholly one-sided. The Indian argument is bought wholesale while no thought is given — at least not publicly — to Pakistan’s reservations about India’s growing role in Afghanistan. Why are Indians constructing roads in Afghanistan that lead to the Pakistani border? Why is no heed paid to accusations, grounded in reality or otherwise, that third parties operating out of Afghanistan have been fomenting rebellion in Balochistan? Why is state-sponsored terrorism in Indian-occupied Kashmir not condemned by the US? These questions need to be answered by Washington before it zeroes in on Pakistan.

Displeasure over recent developments is evident from the almost defiant line now being taken by Islamabad. Strong differences on how to contain militancy have been aired publicly by both sides. Trust deficits have been acknowledged. On the Pakistani side, the executive branch and the security establishment appear to have come up with a unified stance. Washington, meanwhile, has gone a step further from the old tactic of leaking stories to the US press while publicly praising Pakistan’s efforts. Top US officials now openly accuse the Inter-Services Intelligence of colluding with the Taliban and berate Pakistan’s security apparatus for not tackling the militants head-on.

This is a huge step backwards. No one can deny that Pakistan has made some huge mistakes — as has the US — in dealing with the insurgency raging in the tribal belt and parts of the NWFP.

Deals struck by successive governments in Islamabad have allowed the Taliban to establish safe havens, to regroup and redouble recruitment drives. Be that as it may, the harsh views currently being voiced by Washington can only be counterproductive. Pakistan is supposed to be America’s front-line ally in the war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Yet Washington seems to repose greater trust in New Delhi than in Islamabad. This mindset will not deliver the desired results. The more tangled the web we weave, the greater the chance that neither Islamabad nor Washington — or New Delhi, for that matter — will emerge on the winning side.

************************************************** ********

Education policy on hold

Monday, 13 Apr, 2009

NOT many were surprised when the education policy that should have been announced on March 23 was put on hold yet again by the cabinet last week. After all, knowing the priorities — and education is low among these — of successive governments there was really no room for shock when the cabinet postponed its approval of the draft policy of the federal education ministry. The main reason cited for the postponement by the information minister was that the policy was not comprehensive enough. It is strange that having worked on the draft for a year, the ministry should fail to draw up a sound implementation plan and targets to be met within a specified time frame. Hence the draft will be sent back to the provinces and we can expect it to go into cold storage.

Meanwhile, the challenges before the education sector continue to be formidable, especially as no relief is in sight. The three major issues that are undermining education in Pakistan remain unaddressed. One is the quality of education — at least in the public sector — which is deplorable. Second, there is no effective and independent monitoring to ensure that policies are being implemented transparently and corruption is being checked to prevent wholesale damage to the education sector. Third, the capacity to utilise funds flowing into the sector to the maximum, and in a judicious manner, is not being developed. Obviously, all this calls for policy guidelines that may differ in detail in different areas but broadly follow similar principles all over the country. Hence the need for a national policy.

The danger is that the spread of education will be curtailed enormously due to spiralling inflation and the unceasing quest for profits by the private sector. The two have combined to make education costly and beyond the reach of ordinary persons. The new concept of public-private partnership promoted by the government assigns a growing role to private entrepreneurs in education. That has left the public sector even more deprived of funds and attention. The low-income groups have few choices. They can send their children to government schools that impart virtually no education. Or they can enrol them in private schools that may teach them something but leave the family impoverished in the process. Parents have yet another option. They may not educate their child at all, and that is what the bulk of them are doing.

************************************************** ********

Without helmets in Lahore

Monday, 13 Apr, 2009

OFFICIAL attempts to make helmets mandatory for Lahore’s motorcyclists have proved to be a non-starter. In fact it is difficult to detect any trace of enthusiasm or resolve on the part of the city authorities to ensure that unprotected heads are no longer seen on two-wheelers. April 1 — the deadline set by the city’s traffic police department for motorcyclists to buy and don helmets or else pay a fine — has come and gone. And hardly anybody has paid heed. Bareheaded motorcyclists swarm Lahore’s streets without fear of punishment. This state of affairs is being blamed on the double change of guard at the senior level of the Lahore traffic police in a matter of weeks. But the malaise runs much deeper and is not merely about a communication gap between the outgoing administration and the incoming one. In one sense, this is how the writ of government works in Pakistan — more in words and less in deeds. But in another, the blatant disregard for this important safety rule shows a collective indifference, in fact disrespect, to whatever the authorities enjoin, even when their orders concern public safety.

Understandably, disobeying authority in certain situations is the only form of protest, even if it is not acceptable from most points of view. But it is still incomprehensible why people are so careless about their own safety and give precedence to a defiant attitude over instructions for their own well-being. This cavalier approach to life is perplexing and even excuses like not wanting to don safety gear because motorcyclists find it suffocating in the summer are not convincing. It does not matter whether or not there is a trust deficit between the government and the public. Our careless attitudes towards rules and wrong-headed notions of personal comfort can only bring us grief, especially in matters of safety. A high number of deaths among motorcyclists has been caused by head injuries sustained in road accidents. Most of these deaths could have been avoided if the helmet issue had not been turned into a statement of defiance. That it has only turns the tragic into the horrifying.

************************************************** ********

OTHER VOICES - North American Press A call for action

Monday, 13 Apr, 2009

THERE is a jarring disconnect between the downward spiral of the economy and the prime minister’s upbeat pronouncements.

Canada is losing jobs faster than at any time since the painful recession of the early 1980s. Statistics Canada reported yesterday that the national unemployment rate has reached eight per cent, with the country’s manufacturing heartland bearing the brunt of the bad news. At 8.7 per cent, Ontario’s rate is the highest outside the Atlantic provinces. Toronto’s 8.8 per cent unemployment jumped a half-point in a month, pushing it higher than any major city outside Ontario.

Nationally, some 357,000 people have lost their jobs since the downturn began last October. In Edmonton yesterday, Harper shrugged off the figures and said his government is already putting an “awful lot of money” into supporting the unemployed and retraining them for different careers. The numbers suggest otherwise. Remarkably, even as the number of unemployed rises, the percentage of the jobless who are collecting Employment Insurance (EI) is declining. Last December, 33 per cent of unemployed Ontarians received benefits. A month later, that figure had dropped to 31.84 per cent. The bottom line is that two out of three unemployed workers do not qualify for EI in this province. By contrast, 42.8 per cent of unemployed Canadians nationally qualify.

That’s because outdated and discriminatory rules set by Ottawa make it harder to qualify for EI in areas like Toronto and much of southern Ontario, where the economy was once healthier. But with economic activity slowing down dramatically in Ontario, the notion that a laid-off worker can bounce back to another job faster in this province than elsewhere is unsupportable.

Toronto Star

The prime minister has obstinately refused to relax the requirements for EI. Indeed, his human resources minister, Diane Finley, has declared of the unemployed: “We do not want to make it lucrative for them to stay home and get paid for it.”

For many of these workers, the only recourse is to seek welfare. And welfare rules require recipients to strip themselves of most of their assets before qualifying — thereby further handicapping them when the economy eventually rebounds. Harper persists in boasting that Canada is doing its fair share among G20 nations in stimulating the economy. But economic stimulus is about more than building infrastructure or cutting taxes. It’s also about keeping workers afloat when they lose their jobs through no fault of their own, so that they can continue to meet their basic expenses and, at the same time, keep money circulating in the economy.

The longer the Harper government waits to make EI more accessible, the more blame it will bear for letting workers down. — (April 10)