Building trust
Visiting Quetta on Monday, Prime Minister Gilani spoke of the government’s commitment to taking concrete steps to close ‘the chapter of atrocities’ committed in the province over the last many decades. He also conceded that because of the excesses and missteps of past regimes, there now existed a trust deficit between the people of the province and the government at the centre. The problem has been identified — yet what steps the government actually takes is of pivotal importance. These steps are still unclear.
True, this government has introduced a number of changes that will directly and indirectly benefit the country’s largest but most underdeveloped province. The Aghaz-i-Haqooq-i-Balochistan package, the incorporation of gas royalty, the National Finance Commission award, the abolishment of the Concurrent Legislative List through the 18th Amendment and increased provincial autonomy are all encouraging steps. Fully implemented they are likely to go some way towards assuaging Balochistan’s doubts about the centre’s sincerity. Their timely and effective implementation must therefore be achieved without delay. Answering a question about provincial autonomy, for example, the prime minister said that an inter-provincial coordination committee would meet soon. The 18th Amendment too is under judicial review. But meanwhile, the situation in Balochistan is deteriorating fast, as is evidenced by a sharp increase in targeted killings and attacks on the law-enforcement apparatus. The province has become a simmering cauldron of resentment on various counts and stands in danger of splitting along ethnic, political and nationalist fault-lines. The government will only be making the situation worse if it delays fulfilling its pledges.
The government has a long way to go before the doubts and suspicions of Balochistan’s people can be laid to rest. First, the issue of the disappeared — which is fast reaching alarming proportions — must be addressed. Despite the constitution of various investigative and judicial commissions and committees, we have seen little real progress. Few people have been traced; it has not been conclusively proved or disproved whether the security apparatus is involved and no one has been called to account. Further, the province needs investment, infrastructure development and the effective harnessing of its resources with the benefits flowing directly to the population. Meanwhile, the government can begin to demonstrate its commitment to Balochistan’s uplift by taking urgent steps to rehabilitate families whose lives were disrupted by Cyclone Phet and by rebuilding the damaged infrastructure. The inattention the province has suffered in the past, if repeated, will give extremist elements a chance to exploit the situation. Extra effort by the government, on the other hand, would send out all the right signals.
Bane of bonded labour.
The recent bonded labour stakeholders’ conference in Lahore has done well to put this social evil under the spotlight. The participants displayed considerable understanding of the socio-economic factors that have given rise to this crime — that is how it must be described because Pakistan has a law banning bonded labour.
The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1992, and the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Rules, 1995, should leave no one in doubt that the treatment meted out by the kiln ownersto their workers is illegal. However, much more needs to be done to raise awareness of the plight of bonded workers and to hold those who perpetrate abuses on them to account. According to a government survey there are over one million kiln workers who can be termed as bonded labourers. They are not only underpaid by their employers, they are also exploited in other ways. For example, they are extended loans on oppressive terms that deprive them even of the hope of a better life.
The recommendations made by the conference are logical and address the underlying issues that give rise to this problem, namely, poverty and the acute need for social security protection. Hence it is valid to suggest that kiln workers be provided health cover and their access to zakat, food stamps and the Benazir Income Support Programme be facilitated. But these are no more than temporary measures for a problem that runs deep and is rooted in decades of exploitation. For instance without providing literacy training to workers and education to their children and without enforcing the minimum wages law no long-term solution can be found. Such measures must be supported by the state that should seek to end the misery of bonded labourers by securing their freedom while also taking to task all those who perpetuate this crime
A check on torture
The ratification by Pakistan of the Covenant of Civil and Political Rights and the United Nations Convention against Torture must be welcomed. It is hoped these international instruments, particularly the convention against torture, will help check the increasingly brutal trends that are prevalent in society.
However, merely signing or ratifying treaties is not enough. The government must demonstrate it has the will to implement the spirit of this convention. Torture is commonplace in Pakistan, with the police and security agencies using it as an instrument of policy. The police normally extract confessions through torture while those picked up by intelligence outfits also receive deplorable treatment. But it is not just organs of the state that are indulging in torture. Women and children are easy targets for abuse in this society, while corporal punishment in schools and madressahs, domestic violence and abuse of household staff also fall within the broad definition of torture.Torture is already prohibited by Article 14 of the constitution. Signing the convention should force the rulers to take practical steps to eliminate this evil practice. The government should harmonise the protocols of the convention with the country’s laws. But ending torture in Pakistan is an uphill task. The mindsets that encourage brutality have to change first before there can be any significant improvement. It is the state’s obligation to change the culture of brutality; only then can citizens be expected to behave differently.
It must be noted that Article II of the convention says that under “no exceptional circumstances whatsoever” can torture be justified. This includes “war, internal political instability or any other public emergency”. Considering the state is at war with militants, it is increasingly important that these guidelines be followed. If the government is serious about implementing the convention, then ‘forced disappearances’ and other such unsavoury practices must end. It is imperative that action is taken against those who use terror as a tactic. But even in these testing times the civil and human rights of all — including suspected militants — must be respected and legal channels must be used to bring the guilty to justice.