The IDP challenge
Wednesday, 20 May, 2009
WITH the government still grappling to meet the needs of those displaced by the conflict between the Taliban and the military, it is encouraging that some families have begun to return to their hometowns. The gains made so far by the military appear of sufficient magnitude to lend these citizens the courage to brave the possibility of further strife and reclaim their homes, properties and livelihoods. There is little doubt about the devastation they will find; but fortitude, coupled with support from the state and citizenry, should help them take the first step towards resuming normal lives. Yet it would be dangerous to read too much into this development. Firstly, the sluggish response to the crisis has left many IDPs disillusioned. It is not inconceivable that returning to a recently secured area appears the better option for people forced to queue up for hours on end for food and water or left entirely destitute. Many displaced families earned from the agricultural sector and the wheat harvest is just being brought in, after all.
Secondly, the number of returning families is a mere drop in the ocean. The scale of displacement is massive: over 2.1 million people, according to the UN, and probably more. The immense challenge of rescuing the bulk of these people from poverty and facilitating their return still lies ahead. That will be possible only when the militancy problem has been resolved once and for all. The IDPs choosing to return home must be offered whatever material or financial help can be given. Yet security remains the most important factor: the government and military’s assurance that parts of Buner district and Swat are safe must hold true. Furthermore, in addition to the need to rehabilitate the IDPs, any possibility in the long term of an insurgency like the one fomented by the Taliban must be prevented. For this, it is vital that the constitutional, political and administrative structures in place across most of the country be extended to Fata, Pata and the Northern Areas, which have for years been differently administered from the rest of the country.
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Curriculum of hatred
Wednesday, 20 May, 2009
AN article in The Guardian focuses on a matter that our academics have been trying to highlight for at least a decade. It has been observed that the texts used in state-run schools foster religious extremism in a less blatant but more ubiquitous way than the infamous madressahs. By propagating concepts such as jihad, the inferiority of non-Muslims, India’s ingrained enmity with Pakistan, etc., the textbook board publications used by all government schools promote a mindset that is bigoted and obscurantist. Since there are more children studying in these schools than in madressahs the damage done is greater. A lot of research has been conducted on the contents of textbooks by teachers and sociologists who have compiled voluminous reports to persuade the education authorities to take corrective measures. Thanks to their efforts the dangerous implications of having such books in the school curricula are now being recognised.
But the process of change is not easy to initiate and implement when obscurantist forces are so firmly entrenched in every walk of life, especially in the education sector. In 2004 when an attempt was made to slightly modify a biology textbook that contained a Quranic verse on jihad, it backfired leading to the resignation of the education minister Zubeida Jalal. Once again, the government has announced that all textbooks are being revised to purge them of inflammatory material. When the changes will be made is anyone’s guess. The education policy, which should normally set the guidelines on curricula development and textbook policy, has been put on the back burner.
The fact is that the minds of generations of schoolchildren are being perverted by our public school system. It is not just the textbooks that are preaching hatred, violence and intolerance. The teachers who are the products of this system can teach no better. With a few noble exceptions, they make their students swallow hook, line and sinker what the books say without even attempting to moderate the ideas conveyed. Being disinterested in their work, most teachers do not inspire their students with knowledge acquired from other sources. That makes the textbooks all-important especially when the pedagogy in our schools does not seek to inculcate creativity and curiosity in the child or to encourage him to ask questions and do some research in the quest of knowledge. One can only hope that the exercise to revise textbooks is expedited and private textbook publishers are allowed to enter the field if they can deliver.
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A united front
Wednesday, 20 May, 2009
THE all-parties conference was meant to sound out the political spectrum on the necessity of the battle underway in Malakand division, but, in truth, all eyes were on one man and his party: Nawaz Sharif and the PML-N. With the PPP, MQM and ANP fully behind the military operation and even the PML-Q appearing supportive in public, the only real question was whether the PML-N would join in accepting the necessity of the operation. And to Mr Sharif’s credit he has done just that, accepting that the state was left with no choice but to fight after the militants in Malakand division had effectively closed the door on the policy of dialogue. So, with the overwhelming majority of parliament now behind the government’s policy, the Pakistan Army now has a clear mandate to fight and defeat the militants. Pakistan, it seems, may have finally turned the page on the militancy issue and at long last may have begun to present a unified national front against the militants. If that is indeed the case, then it has been achieved not a moment too soon given the alarming rise of militancy in recent years.
The PML-N’s support for a national policy against militancy is important for two reasons. First, militancy will not be defeated today, tomorrow or even a year from now. A tough, drawn-out fight should be expected, and it will involve many different areas of Pakistan. Second, the PML-N is the only real political rival to the PPP, with all other parties ranking a distant third among the electorate. Given Pakistan’s unstable political culture and unpredictability of events here, a situation in which both the two major parties in the country accept and understand the need for the military option in certain circumstances bodes well for Pakistan’s fight against terrorism, extremism and militancy.
The emphatic verdict of the APC — the resolution issued afterwards was airy and soft, but in Pakistan the wording of such resolutions is rarely of major importance — may also have a positive effect on the thinking of the Pakistan Army. Until now, the army has appeared reluctant to take on the militants on multiple fronts simultaneously, perhaps because it has been worried about the lack of popular support for such large-scale operations on Pakistani territory. But now the army may be encouraged to go beyond firefighting and think bigger — there is little doubt that at some point the focus must turn to the Waziristan agencies in Fata, where the threat that lurks may be larger than that in Swat by an order of magnitude. Be that as it may, the military option must always be weighed carefully. Fighting is serious business with serious consequences for the population, the army and the government — it should only be resorted to with a clearly defined objective and well-thought-out strategy in place.
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OTHER VOICES - European Press Women in society
Wednesday, 20 May, 2009
THAT fewer than one-in-four — 12 out of 44 — of the Irish candidates standing for election to the European Parliament is a woman is a very poor reflection on how women have advanced in this society. Amongst European parliaments, the Dáil has one of the lowest percentages of women members at about 13 per cent. The EU average is 24 per cent with the highest, Sweden, at 47 per cent.
In Ireland, the country of the sophisticated and advanced electorate, we elect fewer women than Bolivia, Sudan, Cambodia or Kazakhstan. Irish women are amongst least successful — or the most effectively excluded — Europeans at getting elected to political office or even being nominated to stand for office. This is unlikely to change quickly either as, at the present rate of change, nearly four centuries will pass before women make up 50 per cent of Dáil membership.
Of course, about half the electorate are women, so it seems some think that policy or tribe is at least as important as gender when deciding who to support. However, far too few women get even as far as standing for office, much less getting elected. In many European countries … it is mandatory for political parties to nominate a percentage of women as candidates…. Last March Labour launched proposals to introduce such legislation in Ireland.
Outside of politics the changing economic situation is having an impact on women too. Funding for schemes designed to promote women’s interests is in jeopardy…. This is a small country with a limited pool of talent and we cannot afford to exclude anyone … purely because of their gender. Though the political classes will deny it vehemently, our political system has yet to prove that it is capable of solving the great challenges facing the country. It is not hard to believe that our political system would be much stronger if it was more open and welcoming, less in thrall to a few dynasties and so utterly self-serving.
The impact of nepotism in some parties, where surnames seem as least as important as ability, has discouraged many…. If encouraging more women to participate would change this country for the better, we would be fools not to do so. Any barriers that prevent anyone, no matter their gender, from making a positive contribution must be removed. — (May 19)