Degrees’ debacle
The saga of lawmakers’ fake degrees has taken yet another twist. It emerged on Monday that the verification process of the legislators’ educational qualifications may take longer than expected.
The Election Commission of Pakistan has expressed a lack of confidence in the way the Higher Education Commission is conducting the process of scrutiny. It will now re-verify the HEC’s findings. According to the ECP secretary, every lawmaker whose degree has been declared fake would be given the chance of a personal hearing “to prove their claim”. The secretary was also quoted as saying that “we don’t need anybody’s direction on how to do our job”. If this were true the fake degrees’ issue would not have emerged in the first place. What can also prolong matters is that the HEC will now have to submit its findings to the education ministry, instead of directly to a parliamentary committee on education.
The HEC appears to be doing an impartial job. Without naming names, it declared the degrees of 37 lawmakers to be bogus. Resultantly, the government was seen to apply pressure tactics to HEC chairman Javaid Laghari when his brother Farooq Laghari was picked up by security men on July 12 in Hyderabad. Farooq Laghari was charged with corruption during his tenure as DCO of Tando Mohammad Khan. Regardless of the veracity of the claims against him, the timing of Mr Laghari’s arrest casts a dubious shadow on the government’s intentions. It strengthens the belief that his arrest was a pressure tactic aimed at harassing the HEC head. Prime Minister Gilani’s intervention — in the aftermath of which Farooq Laghari was released on bail — indicates the government’s involvement in the harassment of Javaid Laghari in order to influence the verification process. Mr Gilani also asked the Sindh chief minister to “avoid any victimisation” of the Laghari family after the HEC head met the premier on Monday. The fact that a democratic government can apply pressure tactics more suited to totalitarian regimes is troubling.
The issue has dragged on long enough. The government must not interfere in the verification process and refrain from harassing those tasked with scrutinising the degrees. The issue needs closure so that the country can move on. The lack of a clear direction is fuelling speculations about mid-term elections, which is not what the country needs at this point. The government cannot delay the issue indefinitely hoping that it will go away. The matter needs to be resolved — and the best way forward is for the task to be accomplished honestly and speedily.
Gastroenteritis outbreak
Clean drinking water and adequate sanitation remain a distant dream in Pakistan. Given that the reality on the ground is not going to change any time soon, it is critical in the immediate term that attention be focused on measures which can help prevent waterborne diseases.
It is estimated that upwards of 230,000 Pakistani children die every year from waterborne diseases such as typhoid, cholera and gastroenteritis. Such is the scope of the problem that water-related ailments account for nearly 40 per cent of bed occupancy in the country’s healthcare facilities and cost the exchequer roughly Rs120bn on an annual basis. It may be impossible to bring this seemingly never-ending cycle of misery to a complete halt. However, it is well within our means to significantly reduce the human suffering caused by waterborne diseases.
Nearly 60 patients, most of them children, were rushed to hospital on Monday after a gastroenteritis outbreak in Karachi’s Landhi area. This should serve as a wake-up call for the authorities. Summer and the monsoon season are both catalysts for waterborne diseases and a major media campaign must be launched informing the public about basic preventative measures. In particular, stress needs to be placed on boiling drinking water, a simple procedure for many that can save countless lives. Of particular concern here are villagers who do not have ready access to healthcare facilities or the means for treatment. In this context there is a need for mobile medical units that can be dispatched to areas where outbreaks are reported.
The corporate sector can also show greater responsibility and play its due role. For instance, firms manufacturing liquid oral rehydration products could distribute their goods to the poor for free because the powder format is of little use when mixed with contaminated water. For both the government and the private sector, the time to act is now.