16.06.2013Bombing our history
The rocket attack, which killed one policeman and destroyed the structure of the Jinnah residency, as a fire broke out quickly engulfing the wooden building, marks a tragedy. The residency, located in the hill town of Ziarat, was a national heritage site, as the place where the founder of the country, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, had spent his last days, nursing serious sickness, before his demise in September 1948. The image of the residency also represented the province of Balochistan, on postcards, in textbooks, on stamps and in other places. The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for the attack.
It can be assumed that the attack was a carefully planned one, intended to send out a clear message by the insurgents who have wrecked peace in the province and have for years been locked in a struggle against the state. According to Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar, the residency was attacked by five militants, who had removed the Pakistan flag and raised the BLA flag in its place. The rocket, which hit the building on the morning of June 15, also resulted in damage to nearby houses as a fierce blaze broke out. This is the first action by insurgents in the province since the new government led by Dr Abdul Malik Baloch took charge. Chief Minister Baloch, a highly respected politician, has said he will do all that he can to resolve the conflict in Balochistan. It is now clear his task will not be an easy one. Quite obviously, militants have no intention of ending their campaign or changing their tactics.
Together with the central government, the provincial set-up will need to think through all the dimensions of the Balochistan issue. We all know it is a complex one, with many issues tied into it. The strategy required to sort it out will not be easy to devise. But this is something we will simply have to do if we are to solve a problem that, in so many ways, threatens the very foundations of the state. If these are to be saved from further damage, decisive action is needed quickly — so that we can restore peace in Balochistan, a province that currently stands poised at the very edge of a steep precipice, from which it could tumble at any time.
Citizen responsibility
Edward Snowden was an officer in the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States. He left that job and then worked for one of the largest, most prestigious consulting firms in the world. This month, he leaked information about what is possibly the largest surveillance operation in the world, because as a citizen of a democracy, he felt that his government — one that he served in as a spy himself — should not be spying on its own people. He has yet to turn 30 years old.
In last month’s election, much was made about Pakistan’s young voters turning out to vote in large numbers. The belief of young Pakistani voters in our democracy is a welcome development, one that will only strengthen us in years to come. But what Snowden did is something that reflects more than just a sense of pride in his country’s democracy: it is a sense of responsibility to protect it against presidential overreach.
What makes Snowden’s actions more admirable was the fact that he was formerly a CIA officer, and until his leaking, was employed by Booz Allen Hamilton, a firm that pays its employees to serve as consultants largely to one client: the US government. Snowden went against not just the desires of his former employers, he went against his own personal economic interests.
It is this sense of obligation, of loyalty to a higher ideal,that Pakistan sorely needs. Will we ever get a young officer in our government leaking information that may be damaging to his or her personal careers, but helps fortify our democracy? We certainly hope so, because there are many government institutions in Pakistan that have a habit of overreaching their authority and not having their decisions questioned.
We are not in favour of leaking national secrets indiscriminately, but not everything the government wants to hide qualifies to be called a national secret. Sometimes, it is helpful to discuss matters of security policy openly. It shows a nation secure in its own sense of self and identity.