09.11.2013 Target: Pakistan: New TTP chief
WITH a single appointment, the TTP has sent across a host of unwelcome messages. First, it has signalled that its campaign is not just about the Mehsuds or Waziristan or even Fata — it is a national agenda. Mullah Fazlullah’s aim always has been and still is about installing the Taliban’s version of Sharia across the country. So gone is the fig leaf of the TTP being a parochial movement that ultimately cares only about its own backyard in Fata.
Second, the TTP has signalled to the army that the military is its biggest enemy. Fazlullah took great pride in the assassination of an army general after the country’s political leadership had endorsed talks with the TTP. Of course, the militant from Swat has a long history with the Pakistan Army, one that turned decisively and irreversibly ugly in 2009. If his predecessor Hakeemullah Mehsud preferred to confuse and disorient the state with his talk of peace while simultaneously waging war, Fazlullah is a more direct kind of militant: he knows what he wants — Pakistan — and he will attack until either the state capitulates or he is eliminated, whichever comes first.
Third, a message has been sent that the fight in Pakistan is not about the US military presence in Afghanistan — though it remains to be seen if the political class and sections of the public will absorb this lesson. Mullah Fazlullah does not reside in Pakistan, he now hides out across the border in Afghanistan. If militancy in Pakistan is really a by-product of the war in Afghanistan, then why does Fazlullah prefer to attack Pakistan instead of fighting the Americans in his new backyard? There is an even simpler way to debunk the myth of the fight against militancy being a post-9/11 creation. The TNSM that was the precursor to Fazlullah’s Swat TTP chapter waged a war against the Pakistani state a decade before 9/11 even happened. And if the US killed Hakeemullah Mehsud simply to scuttle the possibility of dialogue with the TTP, it is the TTP itself that has chosen a new leader who is emphatically against talks — how does a state talk to a group that emphatically rejects the very possibility of talks? The real challenge is now for the government. Lamenting the perceived blow to the possibility of dialogue is not policy. If the concessions to the Mehsud-led TTP were problematic enough, serious thought needs to be given to validating the Fazlullah-led TTP. There is already a state — Pakistan — and there can be no room for another one.
Rushed job: LG polls
WHILE the lawmakers must be blamed for dragging their feet on the issue of the long-overdue local government polls, their rejection of the ECP’s election schedule for three provinces is valid under the circumstances. No doubt, preparations should have been in full swing months ago, but to hurry things along in this manner now is not acceptable either. Thus we can agree with the politicians’ unanimous resolution in the National Assembly on Thursday stating that the ECP announcement was “hasty”, and the results of elections so held would not be credible. The ECP, of course, acted on the orders of the Supreme Court — which should itself have considered the impracticality of a hastily held ballot — but the dates the election body announced on Wednesday are unrealistic. The resolution reflected these observations: it lambasted both the judiciary and the ECP, charging the former with interference in political affairs and railing against the latter for trying to conduct the polls in a “non-transparent manner” instead of following “proper procedures” and giving “required time” to all sides.
In some ways, holding LG elections is an exercise more complex than preparing for national elections, and nobody is better placed to recognise this fact than the ECP. The delimitation of constituencies is not yet complete; even the stationery is not ready. Millions of ballot papers have to be printed; but the Printing Corporation of Pakistan has expressed its inability to print these within the specified time. No wonder the ECP has decided to rely on private companies — something the resolution rejects categorically. As our history shows, it is military dictators who have gone for LG polls — to pass them off as an alternative to democratic general elections. But now that elections are to be held at the grass-roots level under a democratic dispensation, the ECP is not expected to translate the judiciary’s directive in a manner that proves counterproductive. It must now reschedule the polling date which has been rejected by the people’s representatives on valid grounds.
A stitch in time: Winter looms
AS the cold season approaches and the long nights begin, we can expect reports of fatal winter-related accidents to come in. A main reason for such deaths is the lack of awareness about the safe use of gas heaters: gas that continues to be pumped into a room after the flame has gone out is flammable and can also cause asphyxiation. In many urban areas across the northern parts of the country, gas pressure in the pipes starts to fall as consumption increases. This year, this will in all certainty be compounded by the fact that the country is in the midst of a gas shortage, and the possibility of gas load-shedding has been raised. Where piped gas is not available or if households cannot afford it, smouldering coal in an open container is considered a simple way of keeping the room warm. Here too, the danger is obvious if the room is not well ventilated. Every year people — often young children — die because of little knowledge of safety precautions.
The recurrence of such tragedies each year can be countered, and the government still has time to come up with a public-service messages campaign. With advertisements in the mass media, particularly on television and radio, the state could remind citizens about the risks of gas- and coal-generated heat and how these fuels should be handled safely. Overwhelmingly, in Pakistan, the trend is to wait for disaster to strike and then cast about for mitigation measures. But this is an area that is easily addressed, and in fact constitutes a test of the state’s commitment to the most vulnerable of its citizens: those affected by such accidents are often the poor, and would benefit the most by a vigorous awareness-raising drive.