28.01.2014 Unmet development goals
WE can only agree with the assessment of Haoliang Xu, UNDP regional director for Asia and the Pacific, when he says that there is no “sense of urgency” in Pakistan at the national level to deal with this country’s socio-economic crises. To illustrate his point, the UN official, while speaking to this newspaper, highlighted Pakistan’s poor performance where the Millennium Development Goals are concerned. Instead of pushing us further into despondency, such observations, bitter as they are to digest, should prompt us to take remedial measures. Frankly speaking, our performance in the field of socio-economic development is nothing short of shameful. Taking the MDGs as a benchmark, it would be interesting to see how many of our MNAs, for example, could name even a single of the eight goals. The fact is that the state, the politicians, much of civil society and the general population are simply not concerned about human development.
We are in no position to meet the MDGs by 2015. Ever since the global community under the aegis of the UN pledged to meet the goals back in 2000, Pakistan has had only marginal success. For example, UNDP figures show that this country is on track to achieve nine MDG indicators, while we are off track on 25. While Punjab is faring better than other provinces, it is nevertheless true that Pakistan’s most populous province is off track on most indicators. Balochistan, which is at the bottom of the table nationally, has miserable figures all around. In the province, 43pc of children are underweight (against a target of 20pc) while Balochistan’s infant and maternal mortality figures are equally depressing.
It is, ultimately, a matter of priorities. For our state and society, goals like eradicating hunger, achieving universal primary education or ensuring environmental sustainability are evidently not worth focusing on. It is strange that official delegations make it a point to attend international conferences on the MDGs every year, yet the state has very little to show when it comes to actual progress on the goals. Even at a societal level the emphasis is on charity; we are not interested in teaching men to fish, we would much rather give them fish, and that too in unequal measure. Comparatively, others in the region, including Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, are making good progress in meeting the goals. There is still time to act before poverty, illiteracy, hunger and disease combine to completely paralyse the functioning of the state. For this, we will need to reorient ourselves towards achieving social and economic justice. It may be unpalatable to listen to those who say that Pakistan is in “terminal decline”, yet such assessments might prove true unless the rulers and people of this country choose to change the narrative.
How undertrials disappear
IT is not just weak prosecution that allows the accused in Pakistan to sneak out routinely: the police here have perfected many other, simpler options for easily losing suspects. Frequently, undertrial prisoners miraculously unlock their handcuffs, scale walls and disappear into thin air unnoticed by their police escort. Cases have been registered, the ‘negligent’ policemen have been reprimanded and suspended and long-drawn-out inquiries conducted — to little effect. Scenes outside courts across the country confirm there are far too many undertrials for the ever vulnerable police force to handle. Corruption, incompetence, fear of the better-armed criminals, there may be many reasons why fleeing from custody by the men on trial is so uncomplicated. While a couple of in-house inquiries into some such escapes in Okara and Rawalpindi do not go deep into the details of all contributing factors, there are suggestions of a few measures to avoid future incidents.
Some of these proposed steps reflect the desperation within the force to live up to its reputation as the first-stage arbiter of the law. The authors of one of these reports appear to reassert the police’s right to act as arbiter at a basic level when they ask for restoring to the police the power to fetter prisoners. On a more reasonable note, they call for video trials but the extent of the problem is truly revealed in suggestions such as those which seek better-quality handcuffs as a way of preventing prisoner escapes. This is just one of the many other aspects highlighted by the reports — one whose discovery should not really have required investigation by senior policemen. And since the issues have been pretty clear to all concerned for long, these two findings do not inspire too much hope of urgent action and reform. There is a danger of this initiative meeting the fate of most such probes in the country. It may again prove to be the ritual that must follow a goof-up somewhere. Given this record the chances of substantial remedy following a more formal diagnosis are not very bright, unless someone is actually ready to break from the past and impart clear meaning to these inquiries.
Violence in Cairo
IT is difficult not to consider the pro-military rallies in Egypt stage-managed or at least encouraged by the state. On Saturday, thousands of people gathered in Tahrir Square to demonstrate in favour of army chief Gen Abdel Fattah al-Sisi running for president. The same day 49 people were killed in clashes between the police and anti-army protesters who included both Islamists and secularists. In a televised speech on Sunday, acting President Adly Mansour announced the election schedule, advancing the presidential polls to April followed by parliamentary elections in July. This is a favourite ploy of all military rulers. Once in the saddle, Gen Sisi will then be able to manipulate the parliamentary polls and further tighten his grip. The state-run media is now welcoming pro-Sisi rallies, and there is no doubt he will win an election that will be anything but transparent. The situation on the ground, however, is different.
The Muslim Brotherhood, which had spearheaded the movement for democracy against Hosni Mubarak and had won the 2012 elections, is in no mood to accept the status quo. The regime has been harsh to the Brotherhood. Its brutal crackdown on anti-army protesters has killed over 1,000 people, the party has been declared a terrorist organisation, and Mohammed Morsi, the president who was ousted by the army in a coup last year, is in jail facing a number of charges. The party has announced an 18-day campaign — to commemorate the 18 days of protests that led to Mr Mubarak’s fall. The Brotherhood is not alone in rejecting the present dispensation, for liberal elements too have been angered by the regime’s despotic policies restricting civic liberties, including the law requiring police approval for demonstrations. There is no doubt the army has thrown Egypt back to the days of dictatorship. Fraudulent elections may give Gen Sisi fake legitimacy and an army-backed civilian set-up may come into being, but that will merely be a political farce whose unwilling spectators will be the Egyptian people. Their sacrifices in throwing the Mubarak regime out have gone to waste.