Barriers on the roads
AT his appearance before a Sindh High Court bench on Tuesday in connection with a petition regarding barricades on public roads, Karachi’s commissioner said that they did not hinder the movement of citizens. To claim this is to deny reality. Bollards and barricades that impede traffic, container blockades occupying footpaths and layers of security cordons encroaching on roads are unfortunate realities in the city. Meanwhile security concerns only seem to intensify, given these times when government and military installations, premises of foreign consulates and residences of important personalities face varying levels of threat. In Islamabad and Karachi in particular, many roads have been rendered inaccessible to the public for so long that they have virtually been forgotten about. To take just two examples, consider Bilawal Chowk in Karachi, and the section of Aabpara Road in Islamabad fronting the headquarters of an intelligence agency — both formerly key thoroughfares.
For years now, road users have had to take detours to reach their destination near such areas, where no balance is struck between genuine security concerns and public access. Unable to ensure foolproof security, law-enforcement agencies take the easy way out and erect a wall or put down a barrier; or bollards are placed so that traffic has to slow down ostensibly to facilitate inspection by law-enforcement personnel. Either way, the convenience of the public is sacrificed with nary a thought, and the impediments left exactly where they are. In this context, then, it must be welcomed that the matter has been taken up by both the Supreme Court, and the Sindh High Court. On Tuesday, a bench of the former summoned the chairman of the Capital Development Authority and ordered the removal of all hurdles within 24 hours.
The same day in Karachi, the Sindh High Court directed the city commissioner and law-enforcement agencies to similarly remove illegal barriers and submit a detailed report in a fortnight. In Islamabad, as many as 216 roads have restricted access — a large figure given the size of the city — and in Karachi, as claimed by the petitioner, some 70pc of roads are similarly affected. It is hoped that these august houses continue to pursue the matter. As it is, the general public is barely ever given a reason to believe that it figures in any of the authorities’ schemes; at the very least, the roads and footpaths need to be given back to the users.
Corridor furore
IF any proof were required that when it comes to Pakistan’s relationship with China, people tend to lose their minds, then Tuesday’s session of the Senate provided it in considerable quantity. Some senators hailing from parties from Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa led a loud protest against what they alleged were changes being made in the route of the Pakistan-China economic corridor, a project that aims to connect the port of Gwadar to China’s Xinjiang region. The senators, from parties including the PkMAP and the ANP, as well as an independent, first made angry speeches against the alleged route change then walked out of the Senate in protest, even as the government members tried in vain to tell them that no such change in route had been approved. One senator, independent Humayun Mandokhel, was so swept away with emotion that he decided to switch loyalties altogether and sit on the opposition benches, where he was received with loud thumping on the desks.
There is a point when desk thumping begins to sound like chest beating, and this was one example. The rhetoric that was hurled at the government included allusions to Kalabagh dam, and a dire warning from Senator Ilyas Bilour of the ANP that “the country will not remain united if the route is changed”. What is this if not overwrought emotionalism regarding what is otherwise a fairly straightforward infrastructure project? What evidence is there of a route change? And how will the country “not remain united” if there is indeed a route change? What is it about this proposed road project that got the senators so worked up when other far more pressing matters regarding their respective provinces hardly elicit much concern from them? If the senators in question have evidence of an arbitrary change of route, designed to benefit a few individuals rather than satisfy the technical requirements of the project, they should present it.
For its part, the government should also bring more transparency into its dealings with China, especially in the reasons behind the shelving of the Gadani power projects. Many politicians tend to go overboard when it comes to the country’s China conversation, with the government employing the usual rhetoric about Sino-Pak friendship and, in this case, opposing politicians invoking Kalabagh dam and the unity of the country. What is lost sight of every time is that the projects being negotiated with China are purely commercial ventures with little more than the cold play of geopolitics behind them. They should not be vested with such over-the-top emotion, nor be seen as some sort of prize to be fought over so bitterly. A little level headedness and transparency will go a long way to ensure that our China conversation remains focused on the country’s national interests, as opposed to the parochial interests of a few.
Karachi literature festival
“A ROOM without books is like a body without a soul,” said Marcus Cicero a long time ago. One could say the same about a people without a love of books. Thankfully though, many Pakistanis have rediscovered the joy of the printed word — if they had ever lost it at all — as the increasing number of literary festivals all over the country indicate. The Karachi Literature Festival 2015 begins tomorrow, the sixth iteration since it launched in 2010. It has since evolved into a much-anticipated event, an intellectual and cultural oasis in a teeming, frenetic city whose internal tensions often threaten to tip it into violence. Audience numbers have risen exponentially, from about 5,000 in 2010 to 70,000 last year. Speakers/participants have similarly gone up from 35 to over 200 over the same period. This year, although the number of sessions has been reduced, they have been crammed into two days, which is certain to leave many among the audience feeling they have a choice too many. Nevertheless, as always, the event will offer a platform for debate and discourse through panel discussions and talks on a diverse range of issues, as well as nearly 30 book launches.
While KLF is said to have taken its inspiration from the Jaipur Literature Festival, it has provided the impetus for other similar events in Pakistan, some of them organised by the KLF team itself. There are now literary festivals in Lahore and Islamabad, as well as children’s literary festivals — proving that instilling a love of books in children is possible even in an age of instant gratification via video games and multiple television channels. Nor are such events limited to the major urban centres of the country. Gwadar hosted a well-attended book festival last month. Some days before that, Shah Abdul Latif University in Khairpur was the venue of an international literature festival. All of which leads you to believe that the battle for the soul of Pakistan is far from over.
Published in Dawn, February 5, 2015.