Anti-Taliban wave
Friday, 03 Jul, 2009
THE results of an opinion poll on the US, Afghanistan and the conflict in Swat should come as no surprise. There is now a sea change in the attitude of Pakistanis towards the Taliban and the government’s belated crackdown on the insurgents. As the findings of the survey by the World Public Opinion Poll show, 81 per cent of Pakistanis think Al Qaeda and the Taliban are “a critical threat” to their country — phenomenally up from 47 per cent 18 months ago. This 18-month period has seen some crucial political and military developments. No wonder it has induced some reassessment of the situation on the people’s part. The biggest political development was the induction of an elected government last year and Pervez Musharraf’s departure from the scene in August. This in no small way served to create a national consensus on all vital issues, including the war on terror. In fact, Musharraf’s departure removed the unjustified apprehension that it was a war on terror on America’s behalf. That all the leading parties with parliamentary representation agreed to pursue the war on the Taliban with renewed vigour sent out a clear message to Pakistanis and the rest of the world that the government was serious about crushing the menace of terrorism at home and not allow its soil to be used for acts of terrorism elsewhere.
Another major factor has been the series of terror attacks that sent shock waves across the nation. These attacks are too numerous to recount, but there is no doubt some of them will live in memory to serve as a perpetual reminder of the militants’ terrorism. These attacks included the bombing of the Islamabad Marriott, killing 57 people; the attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore in March; and the murder of the renowned religious scholar Maulana Naeemi. This is in addition to what they have been doing for long — waging war on education, especially girls’, by blowing up schools and colleges, blasting mosques and funeral processions and beheading civilians and captured Pakistani soldiers.
Nevertheless, a lot remains to be done. The military operations against the rebels have produced results in Swat but there are challenges to be faced in South Waziristan and Kurram Agency. The government must build on the nation’s support and take the war on terror to its logical conclusion. It must also ensure that an effective political administration is installed in areas that have been cleared of the Taliban.
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Need to move forward
Friday, 03 Jul, 2009
IN an ideal scenario, Pakistan and India would be cooperating fully in the battle against militancy. Events both recent and age-old have not helped achieve that goal, however, and mistrust between the two remains high despite the odd statement of positive intent. New Delhi is upset that the reported masterminds of the Mumbai attacks have not been brought to book, perhaps ignoring concerns that recourse to the courts without a watertight case serves little purpose. The release from house arrest last month of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, head of the Jamaatud Dawa, allegedly a front for the Lashkar-i-Taiba, further aggravated the situation.
Ours is not a perfect world and ideal scenarios are hard to come by. But the least Indian officialdom can do is to ask itself one basic question: is it helping out or is it part of the problem? The fight against the Taliban cannot be brought to its logical conclusion without the sort of commitment that the Pakistan Army is currently showing. Pakistan’s military, it must be kept in mind, has been trained to see India as the conventional enemy and that outlook is unlikely to change any time soon. Yet, India persists with provocative moves that can only be counterproductive. On Wednesday, Washington assured New Delhi that it would be consulted “very closely” in the fight against extremism in South Asia. This followed a visit by Indian parliamentarians who asked the US to ensure that aid to Pakistan would not go towards buying weapons that could be used against India.
Surely we had put this behind us when ‘India-specific’ conditions were dropped from US plans to increase aid to Pakistan. Surely Pakistan’s displeasure with India’s growing influence in Afghanistan had been relayed all too clearly when Washington asked New Delhi to scale down its Jalalabad mission. So why regress instead of moving forward? Some positive gestures are in order at this critical stage. A scaling down of the Indian military presence along our mutual border would justify a much-needed deployment of Pakistani troops to the western frontier. Calling Islamabad’s commitment into question may reinforce India’s ‘case’ among Pakistan-bashers on Capitol Hill and in sections of the American media.
It will not, however, help win the war.
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Practical democracy
Friday, 03 Jul, 2009
SINDH Education Minister Pir Mazharul Haq has said that his department intends to include “democracy in the curriculum to educate future generations on the merits of democracy and the demerits of dictatorship”. It remains unclear whether the topic will be introduced as a stand-alone subject or be included in the curricula of existing examination subjects. Nevertheless, one hopes that practical experience helps its theoretical understanding. Given the country’s historical oscillation between democracy and dictatorship, and the cloudy issues plaguing governance, popular understanding likens democracy to a magic wand. Consider, for example, the criticism levelled against the current government for having failed to immediately resolve issues such as power generation. While no doubt the government must take responsibility for many such issues, a more nuanced understanding of democracy as an institutionalised system of governance is markedly absent.
Inculcating a true appreciation of the tenets of democracy will require much more than their inclusion in the school curricula. To understand why this system proves ultimately effective, the country’s leaders must lead by example; their democratic ideals must be reflected in their conduct. There have been too many failures on this count. Consider, for example, the shameful behaviour displayed recently by the PML-N’s Chaudhry Ghafoor and the PML-Q’s Bushra Gardezi in the Punjab Assembly. Both the provocation offered and the reaction were unparliamentary in nature; the episode constitutes an insult to the dignity of the legislative house. Similarly undemocratic and disruptive behaviour was witnessed in February, when legislators were denied entry into the Punjab Assembly building after the Supreme Court’s ruling against the Sharif brothers. For the nation to appreciate the logic of democracy, it must demonstrably be applied in its full meaning. Without an understanding of the characteristics of this system, politics in Pakistan will continue to be based on personalities rather than institutions, and democracy will remain a mere slogan.
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OTHER VOICES - Pushto Press Karzai’s concerns
Friday, 03 Jul, 2009
PRESIDENT Hamid Karzai has expressed reservations about the US entering talks with the Taliban which he says his government should do in order to achieve lasting peace in Afghanistan. Karzai is of the opinion that peace talks cannot succeed unless his government is part of the whole process.
Karzai’s reservations about talks between the Taliban and the US are justified to a certain extent because the US does not enjoy the same credibility as the Afghanistan government when it comes to dealing with internal matters.
However, Karzai’s efforts to engage with the Taliban have been fruitless in the past. The Afghanistan government and the US have been stressing all along that talks should be held with the ‘moderate’ Taliban but it is hard to apply the term ‘moderate’ to the Taliban as they lead a movement and are a force to reckon with.
The Afghanistan government and the US should take steps which take into account the ground realities and wishes of the people. Instead of denying their failures in Afghanistan, they should accept them and talk to the Taliban addressing the militia’s genuine concerns. Unless they recognise the political and democratic rights of the Taliban, the latter cannot be defeated militarily. — (June 30)
Swat IDPs
THE majority of the 3.5 million people displaced by the military operation in Swat are those who owned large swathes of land, fruit orchards and decent houses in the beautiful valley. Now they live in tents in the sweltering heat, have no cold water to drink and no healthy food to eat.
Since they are not acclimatised to this kind of weather, a majority of them have fallen ill.…
Where is the foreign aid going as these people are still living in destitution? According to the prime minister, 95 per cent of the area in Swat and Buner has been cleared of the Taliban, while the NWFP government claims that electricity and gas supply has been restored in these areas and so the IDPs should return home.
But the IDPs have a point that first the government should move to these areas and establish peace camps there.
This is the only way they will return home. They ask that if there is actually peace in the conflict zones why do government officials go there in helicopters, scan the area and come back?
Firstly the government should reopen schools and offices in these areas only then can the IDPs return home. — (June 30)