Need for restraint: Altaf Hussain`s speech

IT was, in the end, the briefest of resignations, and very much in keeping with previous such episodes. But there was also something new about Altaf Hussain`s early morning speech and quick change of heart yesterday. For the first time, the MQM supremo acknowledged that the London police consider him a suspect in the Imran Farooq murder investigation. Mr Hussain also confirmed that British authorities recently raided his home in London and confiscated unspecified material.

While railing against an international conspiracy against his person, Mr Hussain pledged to cooperate with British authorities and defend himself in a trial, if he is eventually charged in relation to Mr Farooq`s murder in September 2010. This is a good sign: the MQM boss, while denying any involvement, has indicated his willingness to respect the judicial process. The protracted telephonic back-and-forth between Mr Hussain and MQM activists and supporters also had an important essence: the workers` demand that Mr Hussain take back his resignation reflected just how much he is still the core of the party and how unforeseeable and unmanageable an exit by the MQM boss is.

Beyond that, however, there are many uncertainties and fears, particularly for Karachi. A basic reality needs to be kept in mind here: the investigation thathas riled Mr Hussain and outraged the party is being conducted by British authorities and is a nearly threeyear-old process. The thoroughness of that painstaking process is matched by its fairness: no one has yet been charged, not even Mr Hussain yet, many days after his home was extensively searched and evidence presumably gathered. So to decry that process as a witch-hunt or a political vendetta of some kind is to stoke an extreme partisanship that in the context of Karachi in particular can have potentially very dangerous repercussions. The emotionalism that was on display yesterday when the media was subjected to yet another verbal lashing by the MQM exemplifies the problem: little good ever comes when the heart starts trumping the head.

Difficult as it may be to maintain equanimity and poise in the face of an unprecedented test for the MQM leadership, there is the unhappy reality of Karachi Hyderabad and other pockets of Sindh too to consider. Violence, that can start on a mere rumour, has brought a once vibrant city to its knees, triggering uncomfortable reminders of the horrors of the late `80s and early `90s.

Karachi needs a political hand and it is very much in the MQM leadership`s control to ensure that legal troubles for its chief in London do not spill over into unrest on the streets of Karachi.

Are we prepared?: Flood measures

WHILE Pakistan is no stranger to the devastating effects of floods, the recent inundation of homes, in fact whole villages, in the Indian state of Uttarakhand is a grim reminder that preparations for the monsoons should start early. The figure for the dead and missing is in the thousands despite the meteorological department`s claim that it had given the state authorities prior information of what to expect. Pakistan`s own experience with the floods of 2010 in the four provinces and in other parts of the country, as well as the 2011 deluge that mainly ravaged large parts of Sindh, both events affecting millions of people, are still fresh in memory. The following year also saw rain damage. As the monsoons approach, parts of the country are already witnessing heavy showers.

Flash floods in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, for instance, have caused some damage to infrastructure and dwellings. While the authorities there have been warning riverine communities to move from their homes, not much has been done to remove encroachments orto instal flood warning systems. In Sindh, while reportedly considerable work has been done to strengthen embankments, the encroachments along the river and canal banks remain a concern, although the provincial authorities have said that these would be removed. The weeks ahead will tell us to what extent the authorities have learnt their lesson from the previous catastrophes.

But besides the physical impediments there are other factors such as food insecurity, disease and the loss of livelihood that are an outcome of natural calamities. How well are the authorities prepared to deal with these? For example, is there a plan to have children immunised? Childhood vaccinations are necessary in any case but for communities vulnerable to natural disasters they could prove the difference between life and death. True, the dreaded floods may never strike or at least not with the same intensity as they have in preceding years. But having a coordinated plan and strategy would prove invaluable in case the trend sustains itself.

Red herring: Suspension of officials

IN Pakistan`s context, the suspension of a subordinate is best described as a responsibility-shedding tactic. Unfortunately, the political bosses find this a nifty way to divert attention from their own incompetence. We can see this in the aftermath of the attack on the Ziarat Residency and the Nanga Parbat tragedy. The Ziarat attack had stunned the country, but all that the people got as a sop more than a week later was an announcement by Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch that he had suspended the deputy commissioner and five police officials because they had `failed to protect the Quaid-i-Azam`s Residency`. Up in the north, the mountaineers` murder may not have caused emotions to be as bruised, but the cold-blooded slaughter of a peaceful group of trekkers nevertheless sent shockwaves across country.

They were tourists and had no motive other than that of scaling Pakistan`s daunting peaks. Then Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan sprang into actionwhich saw the federal government suspending the Gilgit-Baltistan chief secretary and the inspector general of police, causing the GB chief minister to criticise the move.

In similar fashion, after acts of terrorism in Karachi, high-ranking police officials have often enough found their services being suspended by the government. Certainly, suspensions and transfers may be necessary where dereliction of duty or abuse of the law is detected. But unfortunately, our politicians appear to use this tactic to absolve themselves of the blame. They must realise and feel themselves responsible for the sober truth: tens of thousands of Pakistanis have been killed or wounded by the militants over the years, but neither the Musharraf government nor the PPP-led dispensation that followed managed to formulate a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy. Merely suspending police and other officials does not cause people to forget where the buck stops.