The Qadri facade
January 29th, 2013
Some two weeks after Dr Tahirul Qadri’s Long March to Islamabad, the farce he began then continues. Dr Qadri’s latest round of talks, with a high-powered delegation of the government and its partners, have, however, run into a deadlock — with the head of the Minhajul Quran now threatening to take the matter to the Supreme Court. While the coalition has agreed to a dissolution of assemblies before March 16, followed by polls within 90 days, as well as a scrutiny of candidates within 30 days, it has baulked at Dr Qadri’s demand that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) be reconstituted or that the distribution of discretionary funds be halted immediately. The ECP, headed by a reputable former judge, was of course constituted in consultation with the opposition. As Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira pointed out, while it agreed in principle that the handing out of development funds should stop, it had no means to impose this on provinces given provincial autonomy written into the Constitution.
There are other caveats. These may not have been pointed out at the latest dialogue, but have been raised by analysts more than once. Is a scrutiny of candidates truly possible within 30 days? Can loan defaults and tax-returns be checked within this limited period — and what is to happen if the complex process, involving a variety of institutions, is not completed as unrealistically scheduled.
The real and more relevant issue is why the government is talking to Dr Qadri anyway? He, after all, does not represent anyone at all. There must be some doubt as to whether the paper signed on that cold winter’s night in Islamabad has any legal value at all. What then is the power Dr Qadri wields? Why has he suddenly become such a powerful player on the national scene and why are his curious demands, his interventions, being catered to at all? These are matters to think about in depth as elections draw nearer. Too many suspicions lurk and these need to be dispelled so that all of us can be assured that polling will go ahead in the fashion laid down by the Constitution.
Creating a new province
January 29th, 2013
The PPP government, in an ambitious move has, through the parliamentary commission on new provinces, proposed carving out a new province that will be called Bahawalpur Janoobi Punjab. Apart from the unfortunate acronym this proposed province shares with the right wing, anti-Pakistan political party in India, it also fails to take into account the views of the main opposition parties, which would either prefer that Punjab be left alone or have two new provinces created in Bahawalpur and South Punjab. The PML-N has also reiterated its demand for the creation of a Hazara province.
The PPP has been hasty in calling for this new province without securing the assent of the opposition parties. The composition of the commission on new provinces was already shrouded in controversy since it is headed by the president’s spokesperson and the Punjab Assembly, which after all is made up of the representatives of the province that will be affected, was only allowed to nominate two of the commission’s 12 members. Both the Punjab Assembly and the PML-N, as a whole, have continually expressed their lack of confidence in the commission.
The timing of the move is also unwise. With elections due to be held in May, now may not be the time to create new administrative units. The opposition parties are sure to believe that the new provinces are being created only to help the electoral prospects of the PPP. Since the Constitution requires both houses of parliament and the province being affected to pass any bill creating new provinces by a two-thirds majority there is simply no way to create the province without the PML-N’s assent. The PPP has not even tried to secure that and so the commission’s proposals are likely dead on arrival. Now, the PPP should wait till after the elections and, if it forms another government, try and bring all parties on board before bringing this issue up again.
Washing away evidence
January 29th, 2013
An Indian prisoner, Chamail Singh, arrested near the Sialkot border in 2010, and convicted of spying by a military court in June 2012 to serve a five-year sentence, may have been beaten to death by prison staff at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail. Singh’s ‘offence’, it appears, was to have been washing his clothes. With prison authorities insisting that the Indian national, whose age is varyingly put at between 48 and 60 years, died of natural causes, a judicial inquiry has been ordered. The incident, being widely reported in Indian media, comes at a time when relations between the two countries are already strained. This latest death will not help matters.
The death of Singh, after a severe beating, was apparently witnessed by another inmate, who was able to speak about it to this publication as he was freed three days after the event. According to his account, Singh was washing his clothes at a tap in the jail’s courtyard early in the morning on January 15, when three members of the jail staff, including the assistant superintendant told him to stop. When he answered back, he was severely beaten by all three men, resulting in his death. Following this, affidavits were taken from Indian prisoners at the jail, stating that Singh had died of ‘natural causes’. The results of the autopsy are awaited. While the India media holds that there are 33 Indian nationals held at the jail, about eight to 14 statements were obtained, or, as the eyewitness claims, ‘extracted’.
The results of the judicial inquiry need to be seen. But we all know that prison brutality is a terrible reality in our country. Incidents of beating and torture are hardly uncommon, and while many prisoners suffer, Pakistanis and Indians held in each other’s jails face especially tough times. The account we have heard makes it imperative that an inquiry be held. It is important the truth behind Singh’s death be uncovered, so that if found guilty, those behind it can be punished and similar happenings prevented in the future.