Condemnable remarks
September 24th, 2012
In a more stable and mature polity, the explicit incitement to murder by the ANP Minister for Railways Ghulam Ahmad Bilour would have been met with his immediate suspension from politics and the opening of a police investigation to determine what crime he should be charged with. But in the warped and fearful Pakistan of today, the official reaction was characteristically and depressingly spineless. The prime minister has only distanced himself from his minister’s remarks and offered to discuss it with the ANP boss, Asfandyar Wali — while leaving Mr Bilour in his job. And the ANP has only said that Mr Bilour was speaking in his personal capacity and the party does not endorse his demand. Gone is the idea of collective responsibility, of the cabinet and of a political party.
Strip away the theatrics, and the reality is even more frightening. Mr Bilour said what he did precisely because he knew he could get away with it. No one will dare prosecute a man calling for the murder of an individual who has committed blasphemy against Islam — though it is unlikely that the railways minister even really knows whose murder he has specifically called for. And Mr Bilour said what he did because he understands better than most that the ANP is headed into an election campaign after a disastrous term in charge of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and with fierce competition expected from the political right in the province in the shape of the religious parties and PTI. So what better way to establish the ANP’s religious credentials in an unfavourable electoral climate?
Therein lies the great tragedy of Pakistan. Moderate politicians have long argued that they are helpless in the face of a rising tide of conservatism and extremism in society at large. But the ugly truth is that all politicians — even the so-called moderates — are more than willing to pander to extremism if it means a few extra votes or political survival. To refer to the Taliban and Al Qaeda as ‘brothers’, as Mr Bilour did in calling on anyone to kill the producer of the hate film, Innocence of Muslims, is to desecrate the memory of the thousands who have died, many of them belonging to Mr Bilour’s ANP, at the hands of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. If there is speech that should be criminalised in Pakistan, it is speech enabling and strengthening the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Of course, it won’t happen because political survival is more important to a politician than national survival.
Economic fallout
September 24th, 2012
Though it may be too early to get solid figures for the losses accrued nationally due to Friday’s mob violence in the country, the ballpark estimates are cause for concern. In Karachi alone, according to the president of the city’s chamber of commerce, trade and production losses hovered around the Rs14bn mark for the day. Losses due to widespread arson and looting are separate from this figure. The country’s commercial capital had already endured a rough week, as the city was shut down on Wednesday due to the killing of a political activist. If this is the estimate for Karachi, the cumulative nationwide losses due to the violence can only be imagined. Apart from the business shutdown, banks, cinemas and fast-food outlets were all ransacked as mobs rampaged across many of Pakistan’s cities unhindered. A more clear picture of the cost of the damage will emerge today as commercial activities fully resume.
It is obvious that such violent breakdowns of law and order do not project a very positive image of Pakistan to the foreign investor, while the recent scenes witnessed also shake the confidence of local businessmen. In the current global economic climate, the country cannot afford such negative publicity. As it is there is an international liquidity crunch as national economies deal with recession. Data from the current financial year shows that foreign direct investment is down in Pakistan, while FDI also fell considerably last year. With the global economy so volatile, violence and insecurity here will only scare away those who may want to invest in Pakistan — foreign investors move in after seeing domestic investors put money in the market. Ultimately, there is a strong link between the maintenance of law and order and economic stability. If the authorities do not focus on keeping the peace in times of unrest and otherwise, investors — both domestic and local — will take their money elsewhere, to countries where the safety of workers and assets can be reliably guaranteed. Considering the slow economic growth and high unemployment rate in Pakistan, this is something the country can ill afford. Hence the need for the state to act.
Mountain or a molehill?
September 24th, 2012
Writing in the New York Times in August 2010, journalist Selig Harrison had said Pakistan was “handing over” Gilgit-Baltistan — where he discovered “an influx” of Chinese soldiers — to China. In the story headlined ‘China’s discreet hold on Pakistan’s northern borderlands’, Mr Harrison had reported “a quiet geopolitical crisis” in Gilgit-Baltistan where “Islamabad is handing over de facto control of the strategic” territory to Beijing. Harrison also discovered “22 tunnels” which were barred to Pakistanis and which could be used for storing missiles.
Two years on, the Indian army chief has shown such ‘revelations’ to be unverified and has supported earlier denials by both China and Pakistan. The latter two countries have long collaborated on infrastructure projects in the border areas, including the feat of engineering that is the Karakoram Highway. It is known that Chinese experts are involved in several rail, road and power projects. For that reason, the presence of Chinese nationals is not something that should cause nightmares for anyone and be referred to as an “influx”. As Gen Bikram Singh said on Wednesday, the Chinese soldiers were there to “provide protection” to railway, road and hydroelectric projects. Beijing, however, insists there are no soldiers in the border area. In an interview on Sept 3 with The Hindu, Chinese Defence Minister Gen Liang Guanglie clarified “once again” that the People’s Liberation Army had “never deployed a single soldier” there. Mr Harrison had said that China wanted “unfettered access to the Gulf”, but was alarmed over China’s “grip” over Gilgit-Baltistan. Gen Singh’s words, then, should serve to allay any fears in India of militaristic designs on the part of China. In fact, there is also a lesson for India and Pakistan: suspicions need not arise over every activity that takes place on the other’s soil near the border areas.