The evil in our midst
Wednesday, 21 Oct, 2009
DEPRESSINGLY, though perhaps not unsurprisingly given the beliefs of militant extremists, an educational institution has been targeted by two suicide bombers in Islamabad. That the institution happened to be the International Islamic University may be doubly shocking to some. But the dastardly attack against innocent students on Tuesday is indicative of the fact that the fight for the future of Pakistan does not just pit the ‘godless’ against the ‘true believers’; it is actually a war by a radical minority in society that is bent on imposing its millenarian ideals on the rest of the population, including those trying to educate themselves about Islam in a modern environment. Since the middle years of the Musharraf era, the Islamic University has seen a number of changes in its administration and outlook that have put the university in the ‘moderate’ camp of Islam, a change that, to the militants, amounts to heresy, or even apostasy. And it is now well known that anyone who holds even a slight difference in interpretation of Islam with the militants is a ‘legitimate’ target.
The motive for the bombing of the IIU is not known yet, but two things are known. One, Tuesday’s attack is another in a wave of suicide bombings and fidayeen attacks since the state indicated its intention to enter the ground zero of militancy in South Waziristan. Two, while the IIU has not issued a statement in support of Operation Rah-i-Njiat, it is known that the government and the security establishment have reached out to the media, civil society and other civilian institutions for support. Perhaps, then, the militants have decided to demonstrate their anger at the lack of support for their ‘cause’ among the public.
The wickedness of Tuesday’s attack, however, raises fresh fears for the public. Security officials have in recent weeks repeatedly warned of the possibility of attacks against civilian targets, including educational institutions. Until Tuesday, there was no way to independently assess how real that threat was. Now we know that the war is widening. Many schools in the country were closed at the start of the week in apprehension of violence in the cities and towns. After Tuesday, more schools will close temporarily. But here is the terrifying reality: schools, colleges and universities are soft targets and securing them against the threat of suicide bombers is all but impossible, especially in the short term. The country is not sinking, but we are slipping towards the very ugliest terrain of urban militant violence. And at this time of great danger, we must also ask: what else will shake leaders such as Nawaz Sharif, who are still on the fence, to take a firm stand against militants and support the effort to subdue them?
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Fishermen in jails
Wednesday, 21 Oct, 2009
ACCORDING to a report, 394 Indian fishermen are languishing in Pakistani prisons even after having served their sentences. To aggravate this miscarriage of justice their deportation in the near future appears unlikely given the present tense ties between India and Pakistan. The maritime security agencies of both countries routinely pick up unarmed Indian and Pakistani fishermen straying into the exclusive economic zone of the other country. The maritime borders are not visibly demarcated and the boats the fishermen use are primitive with no modern instruments to provide them with any guidance with regard to geographical distances. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that over 4,600 fishermen have been picked up by the coastal authorities on both sides in the last 20 years. Their release has become a tit-for-tat game. This is ridiculous. In most cases it is an error of judgement when the fishermen enter foreign waters. Their ‘crime’ is hardly of a grave nature and the punishment that is generally handed down is light — a one-year term in prison. It is inhumane of the authorities to detain the fishermen indefinitely.
Last year the India-Pakistan Judicial Committee on Prisoners that was formed in 2007 recommended that prisoners who had completed their term be released immediately. But Islamabad and Delhi have failed to implement this humane suggestion for reasons best known to them. Mercifully they have observed the consular access agreement and allowed their diplomats to visit each other’s prisoners in jails. But that is not enough. Why should the judicial process be held ransom to politics? The two sides try to extract mileage from every small gesture of compassion they make. Periodically fishermen prisoners were exchanged between India and Pakistan. But since the Mumbai attacks, even this practice has been discontinued.
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PIA’s nosedive
Wednesday, 21 Oct, 2009
HIGH fuel prices cannot explain away PIA’s disastrous decline into near bankruptcy. If anything, international fuel prices fell sharply in the last few months of 2008 but Pakistan International still managed to post an annual loss of Rs39.88bn by December, a staggering increase of more than 200 per cent over the previous year. Net revenues increased by nearly 27 per cent but these gains were more than offset by a 58 per cent spike in operating expenses. In a report presented to the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee, the auditor general’s office echoed the widespread view that PIA’s problems run deeper than fuel costs alone. As many as 29 audit objections were raised in the AG’s report. Loose internal controls are the root cause of the malaise afflicting the national carrier according to the report, which also recommends a thorough review of the way in which PIA is run. Indeed, it is high time such an exercise was carried out by a professional task force with no vested interest in the airline or personal links with its top management.
PIA is overstaffed and saddled with political appointees and an ageing fleet. Many potential customers are kept away by tales of delays and cancellations as well as concerns, real or otherwise, about aircraft maintenance and overall quality of service. Then there is the calibre of the people at the very top of the organisation. A skilled and experienced pilot is no doubt an asset in the cockpit but his utility in the boardroom is questionable to say the least. Compared to its competitors, PIA has fared poorly in marketing its product. An airline spokesperson claims that a new marketing strategy has been initiated but its workings, clearly, are not evident as yet to the paying public. Fuel prices will remain unpredictable and cannot be used endlessly as an excuse for continued failure. PIA needs to trim the fat and streamline operations but this may not be possible without outside help. If need be, professional troubleshooters specialising in aviation ought to be called in to put PIA on the runway to recovery.
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OTHER VOICES - European Press Apparitions from
Wednesday, 21 Oct, 2009
NO-CONFIDENCE motions in Slovakia’s parliament have metamorphosed into a toothless act, a sort of political theatre where the final scene has been written long before the actual performance begins. On October 15, parliament performed the ‘no-confidence motion’ play again and the outcome is quite predictable.
Justice Minister Viera Petrikova will survive; but not because she warrants being kept in post to make her shining contribution to justice in Slovakia. On the contrary, she will survive because she is a safe bet for making no contribution at all. She got her script from the play’s director, Vladimir Meciar, and she seems to have memorised her lines well.
... The way Petrikova handled the case of prominent judge Jana Dubovcova, who in 2002 was awarded a Transparency International Integrity Award for fighting corruption, suggests that she is exercising someone else’s sense of justice or interests…. When the chairman of the district court in Banska Bystrica … Busik proposed … disciplinary action against Dubovcova for expressing her strongly held personal opinion that there is decay in the state of judiciary, Petrikova instantly approved Busik’s action.
Daniel Lipsic, former justice minister and deputy chairman of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), said that in about a month Slovakia will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution but at the same time society is relapsing to the times when there was “freedom of expression but not freedom after the act of expression”. … — (Oct 19)