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shallowwater · #4 Friday, April 24, 2009

1. Setting things Right.

AS time passes, the US assessment of the Pakistan situation following the conclusion of the Swat peace deal is taking on a gloomier look and one finds top American officials making statements that not only show the Obama Administration's exasperation at Islamabad's attitude towards terrorism but also its disregard of ordinary norms of diplomacy. In this context, the latest observations come from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who, while expressing dissatisfaction at Islamabad's policy of dealing with the threat of militancy, went to the extent of calling upon Pakistanis to raise their voices against the government attitude. She complained that she was not hearing much protests from them and felt that all of them, whether officials, ordinary citizens or residents abroad, should come out against it. Giving her testimony, the first since she took office last January, before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, she rang alarm bells in the world capitals saying, "Pakistan poses a mortal threat to the security and safety of our country and the world". Her fears, as of many other foreign leaders, mostly centre round a scenario that perceives the takeover of the country's reins of government by anti-US militants, who she maintained were within hours of Islamabad. The US Administration's worry about the developing scenario is also evident from the frequent trips of its highest-ranking military official to Pakistan. Chairman US Joint Chiefs Committee Adm Mike Mullen flew into Islamabad again on Wednesday and held meetings with COAS Gen Ashfaq Kayani and other top brass. One wonders that if the US were so much concerned, what inhibits it from delivering to the Pakistan Army the modern equipment that could facilitate the task of tracking down the militants in the tricky tribal terrain. Once again, the Admiral promised to provide the necessary weapons and state-of-the-art technology and once again Pakistan hopes that the USA would deliver. Reportedly, General Kayani asked him to put a stop to the drone attacks that, he stressed, were making counter-terrorism efforts harder to succeed. The US should also pay heed to Senator John Kerry's remarks that underlined the inadequacy of its policy towards "Pakistan (which) is in a moment of peril."
Although utterances of foreign leaders might irk us, it would be idle to shut our eyes to the approaching threat from the militants. Even JUI(F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has issued a stern warning about the menace. It is a pity that we have not been able to evolve a well though-out policy to combat terrorism. At this moment of crisis, the people expect that political leaders, from government as well as opposition, to put their heads together and prepare a coherent, comprehensive and co-ordinated strategy to relieve the nation of the mounting worry.

2. Balochistan package.

WITH the best intentions, PM's Interior Adviser Rehman Malik is capable of producing the worst results. The 'facts' he presented to the Senate have satisfied neither friends nor foes. He said that India was financing the BLA, which according to him, was involved in terror attacks inside Balochistan while its chief had been provided shelter by President Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan. It is surprising that while India maligned Pakistan all over the world in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, Mr Malik should have preferred to keep secret the proofs he avowedly possesses about New Delhi's involvement in terrorist acts inside Balochistan. Is it not strange that Mr Zardari should have gone on cultivating personal relations with Mr Karzai while the Afghan President played host to a man whose group was wreaking havoc in Pakistan? That Mr Karzai pressured Brahamdagh Bugti to release UN official John Solecki only at the UN Secretary General's request is a reflection on our diplomacy. What Mr Malik said about the background of two of the three Baloch leaders whose killing has led to large-scale protests was characterised as sheer distortion by a number of Baloch Senators. Provincial PPP President Lashkari Raisani has accused him of presenting a cock-and-bull story concocted by the security agencies. The Balochistan ANP chief has said Mr Malik was indulging in the decades-old canard of branding Pushtuns and Baloch as traitors. The opposition has accused Mr Malik of creating misunderstandings with Iran by citing confidential information. If the idea was to convince the Senators, the speech has been counterproductive. One hopes Mr Malik is able to put up a better performance during the Senate's in-camera sitting.
Branding people traitors or foreign agents has not paid off in the past, nor will it now. Unless serious efforts are made to remove the grievances of the people of Balochistan created by successive governments, hostile countries will continue to fish in troubled waters. While the PPP leadership has been long on promises it has been short on delivery. What the people of Balochistan want are not doles, but their due share in resources and power.
It is time the government concentrated on fulfilling its promises instead of continuing to repeat them ad nauseam. Mr Malik says that the administration is ready to 'accept all demands' of the people of Balochistan 'except independence' and that it is going to present a constitutional package that will include provincial autonomy and concede to the provinces their right over natural resources. The sooner the government unveils the package, the better for everyone.

3. Uplifting agriculture.

RECESSION has hit every country indeed very hard. The IMF is not much hopeful about the world getting itself out of the economic crisis anytime soon at least not until 2010. It believes that the global growth will be sluggish at the alarming rate of 1.9 percent. No doub Pakistan, like other economies of the world, has been thrust deep into this maelstrom but while different countries from around the globe have taken emergency measures, energizing different sectors of their economies, it has largely adopted a supine attitude towards improving its fiscal situation. For instance, it has ignored its agriculture without taking into consideration the fact that it could make a major contribution in making a financial recovery. By supplying food products like wheat, rice and vegetables, to the world that is going through a food crisis, Pakistan could earn valuable foreign capital.
The need, therefore, is to modernise the farming methods. Citing the example of Gobi desert and how it was turned into a precious farming area, a delegation of Chinese experts has rightly suggested that Pakistan converts its deserts into productive farmlands. They have also stressed the need to introduce hi-tech agriculture on a large scale. While one hopes that the government would lend ears to what its Chinese friends are saying, it could in the meanwhile do well by taking certain steps to improve the yield of crops. The farmers need to be given easy access to credit. Then, the availability of certified seeds remains a big worry. While its use ought to have been 100 percent, it was recorded at 19 percent. Likewise, owing to rampant poverty, the use of equipment like tractors has been curtailed. Lack of water and electricity makes the situation worse.
The government must gird up its loins to address these problems. Keeping in view the factor that Pakistan's economy is largely agrarian, there is reason to believe that the sector could greatly help the country pull itself out of poverty.