Dec-14-2014
Still no resolution
YET another week of hope and trepidation appears to lie ahead for the country. Today, the PML-N and the PTI are set to kick off another round of talks centred on an inquiry into PTI allegations of fraud in the May 2013 general election and a raft of much-needed electoral reforms to make future elections more acceptable and credible. But the PTI also looks set to continue with its so-called Plan C, with the focus switching to the ultimate political battleground in Punjab Lahore itself. On both fronts, there are many potential complications. For one, the round of talks to begin today are going to be held in private thus depriving the public of knowledge of what is being negotiated on their behalf by their present and would-be representatives. It is odd that secret negotiations need to be held when it comes to determining whether the voting public was denied legitimate and transparently elected representatives in May 2013. Moreover, with the respective positions of the PML-N and PTI not staked out in public, there is always the possibility of one or the other side either reneging on promises or denying publicly what it may have conceded in private. Hopefully more transparency will be delivered than has been promised.
On the arrival of Plan C in Lahore and then nationally, the risk is obvious: a repeat of the Faisalabad episode or worse. In Faisalabad, the PTI`s aggressive tactics and the PML-N`s aggressive response created a situation where a life was lost and many more lives were endangered. Lahore has already witnessed one unacceptable and horrifying incident this year, in Model Town on June 19 when several Tahirul Qadri supporters were killed in clashes trigged by police action, and another bout of violence could have all manner of serious consequences. Perhaps both the PTI and the PML-N can learn from the Karachi experience, where PTI protesters were organised but not threatening and the local administration maintained a hands-off approach. It is not often that Karachi can be a template for other cities in terms of managing risk, but surely the administrators of Lahore and the PML-N leadership need to study both the Faisalabad and Karachi experiences and learn from them.
Ultimately though, the question has to be asked: for how long can this go on? The impasse and the protests could go on indefinitely, but only if the PTI and PML-N continue with their selfish, often destructive style of politics. Protest is a democratic right, but after laying siege to Constitution Avenue in Islamabad, the PTI has moved on to disrupting daily life and business in some of the country`s biggest cities and economic hubs. The PTI has slipped far from the politics of hope it once championed. As for the PML-N, it seems to have lost its way and forgotten its responsibilities as custodian of the democratic process. Perhaps the week ahead could mark a turnabout.
Need for introspection
OVER the past few days, there have been visible signs of flux within the MQM. On Wednesday, party chief Altaf Hussain, in an emotional speech to his workers gathered at the party headquarters in Karachi, announced the dissolution of the coordination committee, a key body within the party’s organisational structure. Though the immediate reason behind the move was what the Muttahida head called the committee’s lack of response to the killing of a party activist in Punjab, Mr Hussain openly criticised committee members for other reasons as well.
He lambasted their `corruption` and censured them for “selling streets and playgrounds” in Karachi. The internal shake-up seemed to be complete on Friday as new members of the committee were announced. A similar scenario was witnessed a few months ago when Mr Hussain disbanded the Karachi Tanzeemi Committee, another powerful organ within the Muttahida`s administrative machinery.
However, the party`s internal political rumblings have rendered it unable to perform on the governance front. It has joined, left and rejoined the Sindh government several times both during the current administration as well as the previous set-up, though it currently sits in the opposition. During this period it has failed to serve as a robust opposition force, while during its time on the treasury benches with the PPP no major moves were made to improve governance.
While it is true that the MQM`s strength lies in the now defunct local government. Karachi was significantly developed during Mustafa Kamal`s watch the party is now failing to make its mark in the provincial legislature.
The Muttahida must realise that unless it sets its house in order, other parties will look to court its vote bank in Sindh. The PTPs profile in the province seems to be rising, if the last two rallies are anything to go by. Last month, Imran Khan`s party staged a decent show in Larkana, while Friday`s shutdown and rally in Karachi indicate that the PTI is feeling increasingly confident on what the MQM considers its turf. While the PTI cannot at this juncture match the Muttahida`s organisational structure in Sindh, if the latter party fails to resolve its internal crises, things may change. After all, the PTI polled a respectable number of votes in last year`s elections on numerous Karachi seats that were considered MQM`territory`. The election numbers indicated changing voting trends in the metropolis.
If it fails to focus on good governance, the Muttahida might find itself facing a serious political challenge in Sindh.
Sugar pricing dispute
IT has been more than two months now that a dispute over the minimum support price of sugarcane has been simmering in Sindh. To this day, most mills in the province have not fired up their boilers or begun the procurement of sugarcane. This is one of the longest delays to the start of the cane-crushing season in recent memory. Despite two orders from the Sindh High Court ordering the millers to start cane-crushing, as the law requires them to do, the only thing being crushed today is the provincial government’s resolve to exercise its executive powers. After putting pressure on the mills for more than a month to begin the crushing season, the Sindh government surrendered to their demand and notified a minimum support price of Rs155 on Dec 4.
The notification caused uproar among growers in the provincial assembly, and days later the provincial government again surrendered and notified a price of Rs182 instead. Now the millers are up in arms, saying they were deceived, calling the revision illegal, and threatening to shut down their operations if the notification is not withdrawn. Clearly, a powerful tug of war is taking place within the Sindh government, since in Punjab the price has been set at Rs180 by the provincial government and crushing has been under way smoothly for weeks now. The Sindh government finds itself caught on both sides of an agricultural price dispute because each side of the equation has powerful representation within the party. Caught between both interests, the only loser is the small grower who cannot wait for very long to sell his crop, as well as the consumer who will bear the ultimate cost of this dithering by the Sindh government. The provincial government must move fast to break this deadlock, taking care to preserve the interests of growers and consumers first. Otherwise, it should simply admit that it is incapable of exercising the executive powers handed to it by the 18th Amendment.