June 26, 2014
Unfolding Crisis
THE difference between governmental action and inaction can sometimes be difficult to discern — but often it is blindingly and shockingly obvious. Hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people from North Waziristan have poured out of the region and the federal government and the political leadership would like the country to believe they are doing all that they can to ease the humanitarian crisis; but the facts, visible plainly to all, suggest that is clearly not the case. When politicians and the administration are in a purposeful mode and go into overdrive, doing absolutely everything they can within their powers to address a particular issue, there is one immutable aspect of whatever they do: publicity. But the handling of the IDP crisis has been left to junior ministers, committees and the like. No senior politician, other than the PTI’s Imran Khan, has even seen fit to visit the areas where the state is ostensibly doing all it can to ease the plight of the IDPs.
Compare and contrast the scenes and reports of the swelling number of IDPs appearing helpless and un-helped with the officials’ claims. Remember also the reason why these Pakistani citizens have fled their homes: it is the enormous price the state and the nation have asked of them in order to take on militants threatening the safety and security of Pakistan. Given the level of sacrifice that has been asked of them, it is surely not too much to hope the state took more seriously its responsibilities towards the NWA IDPs — especially since the state has gained significant experience in recent years in dealing with Fata IDPs displaced by military operations. Moreover, it has been known for years that some kind of military operation in North Waziristan would likely be required at some stage — so theoretically the IDP management in the present instance should have been the best managed and most thoroughly planned of all. Instead, it appears to be one of the more miserable and haphazard IDP management programmes in memory.
Unhappily, the growing IDP crisis is having a double negative effect. The unfolding humanitarian tragedy is eclipsing the reason there are IDPs fleeing North Waziristan in the first place: the military operation. How do the goals of a military operation square with the resentment and unhappiness that the IDP crisis is sure to further stoke among the people of Fata? At great cost to state and society, some militant strongholds in NWA may be about to be overrun, but what is the long-term possibility of success against militancy if the sympathy of the locals ebbs and possibly even switches to the militants’ side? Surely, whether from the point of view of morality or state responsibility or even just operational common sense, the North Waziristan IDPs need to be looked after and looked after well.
Aviation Security
THE nation had not quite recovered from the shock of the deadly militant assault targeting Karachi airport earlier this month when a fresh incident, this time in Peshawar, has raised concerns about aviation security in Pakistan. On Tuesday night a PIA aircraft flying into Peshawar from Riyadh was shot at, resulting in the death of a passenger and injuries to two crew members. The aircraft apparently came under fire as it approached to land, being only a few hundred feet from the ground. The Peshawar airport, like many other public aviation facilities in Pakistan’s cities, is located in a densely populated area. As cities in Pakistan tend to grow in a haphazard manner, it is not unusual for residential colonies and encroachments to sprout up uncomfortably close to airports. Shots and rockets have been fired at aircraft and at the Peshawar airport facilities in the past as well, while the airport was stormed by militants in December 2012. The reasonable expectation would have been that after the Karachi airport debacle, security at aviation facilities across the country would have been beefed up. But despite claims by the Civil Aviation Authority and other state actors, as the Peshawar incident shows, the required groundwork to make Pakistan’s airports safer has not been done.
Incidents such as the Karachi and Peshawar episodes make headlines across the world and unless there is a drastic overhaul of aviation security procedures in Pakistan, we may see our links with the outside world dwindle even further, as foreign airlines start pulling out. Already, decades of violence and instability have caused several major foreign carriers to abandon the Pakistani market. If the current state of official apathy continues, the carriers that remain — mostly Gulf-based airlines — may also abandon ship. Business may be fairly good in Pakistan, but if foreign carriers feel the risks are too high, they will be under no compulsion to stay. For the safety of aircraft and airports in Pakistan, several steps need to be taken. Patrolling in and around airports must be increased. Intelligence-gathering must also be beefed up in neighbourhoods adjacent to airports while staff working in aviation facilities should undergo background checks. It is the habit of the authorities to appear to strengthen airport security by adding more and more muscle to mainly the points of the public’s entry and exit. Clearly, that does not deter those determined to wreak havoc.
Secret Funds
IT is in the nature of secrets that until they come to light, there is no evidence of them being there at all, and all sorts of Machiavellian deeds go undetected. This is the reminder that Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch’s disclosure on Tuesday constituted, when he said that the ‘secret fund’ associated with his office had been abolished and no allocation had been made under it in the current budget. More than the Rs500 million the Balochistan government has saved through this route, which will now no doubt be much more usefully spent elsewhere, it is the fact that the fund existed at all that causes eyebrows to rise. It is known that certain quarters, the federal Ministry of Information, for example, maintain a secret fund and this is what has been used over the decades to manipulate the press, tarnish individual journalists’ integrity and insert into public discourse material that strategically furthers the aims of the government of the day. Now, we learn that the office of the Balochistan chief minister too carried the same facility. How many other such secret funds are there, is the obvious question. To whom are they available, for what purpose are they used and how much money are we talking about?
The Balochistan government’s move in this regard is an exemplary step towards true transparency, and expresses its willingness to submit to the rules of fair play and clip its wings in an area that would give it considerable power to manipulate. Now that Dr Malik has made this announcement, he should also come forward with details about the areas where, over the years, these funds were spent. Further, the other provinces also need to come clean. For years, journalists’ forums have been demanding that such hideaways be abolished, and the details about what monies were given to whom be made public so that in this respect, at least, the ranks can be cleared up. It is high time this is done.
|