(19th March 2013)
Protesting drone attacks
Pakistan’s position on the use of drones on its territory varies based on who’s asking. In public, we denounce drone attacks as an unconscionable violation of our sovereignty but, as the WikiLeaks cables showed, we have not only privately agreed to their use but even provide the US with the intelligence for their attacks. It is this disconnect between the rhetoric we spout for domestic consumption and our acceptance of the reality of drone attacks, which makes our request at the United Nations (UN) for a ban on unilateral drone attacks little more than grandstanding. If what the WikiLeaks cables say is true then, even by our own definition of illegal drone attacks, the US is waging a war with our permission and so, it is perfectly legal.
Even if the UN were to accept our proposal and somehow agree that the government has not allowed the US to conduct drone attacks on our territory, the question of enforcement is sure to arise. Right now, the US is the only country in the world able to use mechanised drones in this manner. Any UN resolution against drones is sure to be vetoed by the US in the Security Council and no legal action can be taken since the US does not submit itself to the International Court of Justice. This is where questions of legality ram against the realities of a unipolar world, where the US can get away with whatever conduct it decides is lawful. A far more fruitful proposition would be to continually highlight the civilian casualties of drone attacks and hope to influence the debate that has been sparked recently by Republican Senator Rand Paul.
For our part, we need to be honest with ourselves about the doublespeak of our government and the effect this has had on the proliferation of drone attacks. Also, we need to realise that the only alternative to drones is military action by the Pakistan Army. This, too, would cause many civilian deaths, but the fact of the matter is, that given the thousands that have been slaughtered by the Taliban, we need to take on the militants in a decisive action, while at the same time, protecting our sovereignty. Protesting the use of drones in international forums is well within our rights but we should not use this as an excuse for our lack of action against the true enemy — the extremist militants who are a far greater threat.
Murdered for a song
For a few days last year, the media reported the story of five women from a remote village in Kohistan who had been sentenced to death by a jirga after a video clip of them clapping while men danced to music had leaked. The matter received sufficient attention for the Supreme Court to take suo-motu notice of it and send a team to the village to investigate the matter. The team reported back that the story was a hoax and that they had been assured the women were alive. There the story rested, with the matter supposedly settled. Now, Reuters has reinvestigated the matter and found evidence that the team may have been lied to and that the women, along with two men who were also in the video, had indeed been killed on the jirga’s orders.
The Supreme Court must take this new evidence into account and reopen the case. This time, simply sending a team to the village will not be sufficient unless there is photographic or video proof that the women are still alive. Talk of cultural sensitivity and how women in the area must be hidden from outsiders will no longer suffice. The jirga members and anyone else who was involved in the incident must be brought to Islamabad in handcuffs and forced to face murder charges. Such acts of gross and unprovoked violence have to be punished, no matter what is said about tribal custom. The law of the land holds no meaning when some are free to ignore it on the basis of tradition.
The Supreme Court should also take this opportunity to crack down on the jirga system, which exists above and beyond the law. The argument that jirgas provide speedy justice holds no sway when the kind of justice delivered is so barbaric. One of the reasons the justice system moves slowly is that defendants have the right to fight their case comprehensively and appeal verdicts to higher courts. These are the protections on which the foundations of justice rest and which jirgas ignore completely. It is high time the anachronistic jirgas were done away with.
Death of a war hero
Fewer and fewer people remember Air Commodore (retd) Muhammad Mahmood Alam. The road named after him in Lahore is best known for its eateries and plush shopping malls. But Mahmood Alam, a war hero in the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, during which the air force played such a major role, needs to be remembered. His feats resemble those of a movie character — dashing, flamboyant and heroic to the extent that they may have changed the outcome of the war. Such men are, of course, rare.
Mr Alam was essentially a North American F-86 Sabre Flying ace and one-star general. He was awarded the Sitara-e-Jurrat for his actions, chiefly the 1965 downing of five Indian aircraft in less than a minute, the first four within 30 seconds, establishing a world record. Mr Alam passed away in Karachi on March 18, after a long illness.
It is unfortunate that many among the younger generation do not know more about men like Mr Alam. It is true that we need peace and good ties with India in the world we live in today. But this does not mean we should forget the past, or the people who served their country when it needed them. In many countries, memorials of one kind or the other exist for these persons. They come, quite often, in the shape of simple plaques or notices put up along roadsides, in an effort to make people think about the contributions of these exceptional individuals. Nations which value their past also build better futures for themselves. This is something we need to think about. Especially in a time of so much despondency, we do indeed need to think about our future. Heroes like Mr MM Alam can help us do this and remember just how excellence can be achieved in so many different fields. It is important to remember history, to keep it alive as far as we can and to see what lessons it can teach us. A nation that forgets its heroes and forgets those who have served it, will always struggle to keep itself alive and vibrant. This is a message we should hang on to — for the sake of our present generation, and those still to come.