THE chief minister of Balochistan has apologised, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has sought an explanation and scores have protested. Yet, the fact remains that the FIR was filed on the basis of reasoning that bodes ill for not just media freedoms but also citizens’ right to information. The burning down of the Ziarat Residency was shocking enough. But soon after, footage emerged that showed that the account offered by the government was inaccurate. The state had initially said that the heritage building had been targeted remotely. The video, however, showed masked men on the premises wreaking destruction even before the flames were lit. It was this last aspect that agitated the Supreme Court when it took suo motu notice on the airing of these clips on an ARY News network programme. The concern was that the footage could be in contravention of Pemra rules that nothing shall be aired that incites violence or tends to glorify crime. This, in turn, led Balochistan’s information department to allege that ARY News had run “objectionable video clips”, and an FIR was registered under provisions of the 1997 Anti-Terrorism Act that pertain to disseminating material to incite hatred or projecting the cause of terrorists.
As violent extremism grows in Pakistan, news networks in the country have learned to tread the thin line between projecting an anarchic cause and remaining true to their responsibility of putting things on record and informing the public. What we saw in the ARY case was no different from an attempt to muzzle the media. Worryingly, this is not the first time. Last September, cases were registered against some Balochistan publications and news agencies for reporting on militancy. Before that, the provincial high court had ruled that the publication or broadcast of a report on a proscribed organisation would be considered a violation of the law. The realisation needs to dawn that extremism cannot be countered through curbing the media’s ability to report on it; that would be to be distracted by a dangerous red herring.
http://dawn.com/news/1038914/muzzlin...t-news-network
TRUST deficit was the underlying theme of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s visit to Islamabad and it appears that while little of substance was immediately agreed to, there may have been some movement towards lessening the distrust. Mr Karzai may have boosted the speculation surrounding his visit when he agreed to stay overnight, but yesterday did not bring any significant news. Perhaps the public tone of the meeting was set by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif when he claimed on Monday that the “central focus of [the Pak-Afghan] relationship has to be a strong trade and economic partnership”. That anodyne characterisation is almost as meaningless as the other familiar Pak-Afghan relationship clichés: an ‘Afghan-led and Afghan-owned’ peace process and seeking a ‘peaceful and stable’ Afghanistan.
As ever, the hard issues will have been addressed behind closed doors. And, as ever, little will be said publicly about what transpired until well after the event. Interesting to note, however, is that the Sharif government is still allowing such a visible and public role to the military high command in foreign relations. Both the army chief and the DG ISI sat in on meetings with Mr Karzai despite their Afghan counterparts not being in attendance. Perhaps this is because Mr Sharif wants to present a united front when it comes to dealing with the thorny Afghan problem. Or perhaps it is because the prime minister and his team have no real idea of how to proceed and are relying on the army’s greater experience to provide guidance. The former is a welcome possibility; the latter not so much.
Ultimately, though, the clock is winding down on the Karzai presidency and the already tiny window of opportunity for resetting ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan is becoming ever tinier. The slow grind of diplomacy may help in improving the atmospherics of the relationship — a reciprocal visit by Mr Sharif to Kabul is on the cards according to the Foreign Office — but it still leaves the critical triangle of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the US out of shape. Pakistan and the US may have edged closer on an acceptable post-2014 outcome in Afghanistan, but the Karzai government is still acutely suspicious of both Pakistan and the US — while the US and Pakistan try hard to hide their exasperation and frustration with Mr Karzai. How a puzzle that hasn’t been solved in over a decade will quickly fall into place in the next six months to a year and a half is difficult to imagine. Perhaps it will come down to there being no choice.
http://dawn.com/news/1038915/unresol...esidents-visit
PERHAPS egged on by the Supreme Court order that elections be held in Islamabad, the PML-N government has let it be known that it has prepared a draft law for a local government system in the capital. The draft law provides for a metropolitan corporation for Islamabad; elected representatives from ‘wards’; reserved seats for women and minorities; and deputy mayors and a city mayor. Details are still missing. For instance, there is no news on the number of wards. Similarly, it also remains to be seen if this draft act, which appears to be an initiative of the interior minister, is backed by the prime minister and his government. But there is no doubt that this is a step in the right direction. Islamabad cannot be denied its democratic right any longer.
Unfortunately, the city has always been plagued by authoritarianism. It was created by a dictator, and his successors — democrats or otherwise — rarely thought that the city deserved self-rule. Even the last great saviour, retired Gen Pervez Musharraf, left the capital out of his ‘national’ reconstruction of Pakistan under which local government was introduced. For Islamabad, the centrally appointed bureaucrats were deemed sufficient. Lording over the Capital Development Authority, these bureaucrats were appointed by the inhabitants of Constitution Avenue and rarely bothered with the city’s residents. Shortage of housing and water were ignored as officials spent their tenures looking for expensive plots to build retirement homes or helping the powerful buy large tracts of land on the outskirts of this rapidly expanding city. The PPP was no different. Despite its promises it never provided a local government system. Now the PML-N has jumped into the fray. It is hoped that it lives up to its word.
http://dawn.com/news/1038913/capital...-for-islamabad