Time to go back to parliament
IN his trademark belligerent style, PTI chief Imran Khan reacted yesterday to his party’s failure to secure a deal with the PPP on the Senate elections to be held in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on March 5 by accusing the PPP and JUI-F — and the PML-N for good measure — of corruption and indulging in horse-trading. This, a day after the PTI chief and PPP boss Asif Zardari held unprecedented talks over the telephone — that were implicitly hailed by the PTI itself — for sealing an unspecified deal with the PPP. Unhappily, the sharp shift between the mood and language on Sunday and that on Monday indicate that the PTI, while sometimes seemingly willing to do the sensible thing, is yet to learn how to deal with setbacks to its own plans and ambitions. While Mr Khan is all too willing to lash out at others, the simple fact of the matter is that much of the problem in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly lies within the PTI camp. Were the PTI’s own MPAs not willing to consider voting for Senate candidates of other parties against the direction of the PTI leadership, there would be no need for the frantic, eleventh-hour negotiations between the PTI and other political parties. Also dashed — hopefully only very temporarily — by Mr Khan’s outburst yesterday was the immediate hope that the PTI would end its boycott of the National Assembly and return to its rightful and legitimately earned place there.
It had appeared that the sensible voices within the PTI were on the verge of convincing Mr Khan that the time for ousting the government through street agitation had passed. They believed the party was better off building on its position inside parliament to mount a robust opposition to government policies the PTI is opposed to and also to press for the much-needed and long-promised electoral reforms. In boycotting the National Assembly for seven long months, the PTI has not only turned its back on the very voters who sent PTI representatives to parliament in May 2013 but has also done a disservice to the democratic project and the quest to build a stronger and more stable parliamentary system. Both the PTI and democracy itself have been hurt by the boycott and it is time that the party which has done so much to revitalise and reinvigorate the electorate go on to demonstrate that legitimate demands can be achieved inside parliament too and not just on the street.
There is also the possibility that a return to the National Assembly will bring to bear some pressure on the PML-N to deliver on its promise to debate and enact meaningful electoral reforms. For all the PTI’s missteps and faults, it has at least shown an inclination to do the right thing eventually. Surely, the PML-N — in power for the third time — can do the same.
Minorities’ dilemma
AMONGST the predicament of minorities in Pakistan is the fact that youngsters belonging to faiths other than Islam either have to study the religion of the majority, or learn about Islamic themes that are included in the textbooks of unrelated subjects. As some scholars have pointed out, forcibly teaching non-Muslim students Islam — either because of the lack of alternatives or through inducement — violates their constitutional rights. In this regard, it is welcome that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textbook Board has begun developing ethics books for the province’s minority students. While ethics is being taught in other provinces, it is shocking that it took KP so long to offer an alternative to non-Muslim students. Even the ANP, which ruled the province before the PTI’s rise to power, did not rectify this anomaly. As reported in this paper, many non-Muslim students in KP are forced to study Islamiat due to the lack of ethics textbooks and instructors who could teach them the subject. This brings us to another major problem: while the province has done well to formulate an ethics textbook, who will teach the subject? As our report indicates there is a shortage of qualified ethics teachers in KP. This problem also exists in other provinces.
In order to create a more tolerant and inclusive society, it is essential that non-Muslim students are not forced to study the religion of the majority. With the addition of KP, ethics will now be taught nationwide, hence there needs to be a trained cadre of instructors in all provinces that can teach the subject to non-Muslim pupils. Moreover, minorities must be consulted so that their respective religious beliefs are taught to youngsters instead of ethics should they so choose. Then there is the issue of including Islamic topics in subjects as varied as general knowledge, social studies and English. Of course, this infusion of religious material across the academic spectrum is mostly the work of Ziaul Haq’s ‘Islamisation’ project. It must be realised that Islamiat is a compulsory subject in Pakistan, hence there is little reason to include religious teachings in other subjects. Doing so poses two major problems: it forces non-Muslim students to study Islam and where Muslim pupils are concerned, this approach can result in diluting the focus of the lesson. Both the issues of non-Muslim students and the inclusion of religious topics in unrelated subjects must be considered in future curriculum reform efforts.
Graffiti menace
POLICE in the capital city recently removed graffiti glorifying the self-styled Islamic State from the walls of buildings in an area where schools are located. Patrols will now be enhanced to ensure that the wall-chalking does not reappear in the vicinity. In fact, the menace of graffiti is very widespread and a big problem in Pakistani cities and a more energetic approach is required to tackle it. Political graffiti appears on the walls of historical buildings, while posters of electoral candidates are pasted on national monuments too. More insidiously, hate messages are scribbled on walls in large localities in Karachi, and towns across Punjab. The seeming impunity with which these messages are scribbled on the walls shows that they are not considered a big enough menace by law-enforcement or the local administration. Quite apart from desecrating national monuments and historic sites, hate messages along sectarian lines or glorifying groups involved in large-scale atrocities should be a special target for erasure. Yet thus far we have not witnessed any systematic effort to discourage those who insist on scribbling these messages in public places.
The police in Sector H-9 of Islamabad have done the right thing in promptly painting over the graffiti and enhancing patrols in the area to ensure that it does not recur. But much more needs to be done in towns across Punjab — and in Karachi where last year the Sindh Assembly passed a law against the defacement of public and private property, stipulating punishment for the offenders. The local authorities, including the police and city administration, must play a more vigilant role to erase graffiti promptly, and apprehend those responsible for putting up these messages. The political parties can lead the way by mounting a strong campaign internally to dissuade electoral hopefuls and other political players from using public walls and national monuments as display areas for their messages and slogans. Meanwhile, keeping hate off our walls will help keep it out of our minds.
Published in Dawn March 3rd , 2015