Punjab operation
IT has all the hallmarks of a compromise. The operation against criminal elements hiding in a stretch of forested area in south Punjab has been billed as a historic first. Civilian law-enforcement agencies in coordination with paramilitary personnel have set out to eliminate the threat posed by criminal gangs in Rajanpur and adjoining districts. By official accounts, the fight will be fierce given that the criminal gangs have retreated to an inaccessible area and are believed to be well armed. Once the gangs have been defeated, the denizens of the affected region will surely see their security improve and local law enforcement will have fewer hazards to face. Yet, some perspective is necessary. The names of the groups that have been bandied about have no national recognition. Neither is there a clear link to militancy and terrorism that is being fought under the umbrella of Operation Zarb-i-Azb. So, it does appear to be a compromise between the political government and the military leadership.
It is also a compromise that Pakistan does not need. Punjab has a terrorism and militancy problem that is not just a threat to Punjab, but the country itself. The extremism threat in Punjab is perhaps even greater — shocking details this week of a parallel judiciary operating in the provincial capital have given an indication of how far the problem has metastasised in the province. What the province needs — what Pakistan needs — is a counter-terrorism operation that is full-fledged, unflinching and across Punjab. And the operation must be civilian-led with maximum cooperation from the military. If, as the military appears to have recognised, the problem in Punjab is urgent and needs an immediate response, then the military leadership should also recognise its role in creating the political space necessary. But who leads the fight and what special powers the military and paramilitary personnel are given ought to be secondary to the goal of securing Pakistan.
Lost in the civil-military tug-of-war has been the effect on the morale of the civilian law-enforcement agencies. The military regards them as inferior, while the political government will not let them do their job — it is the worst of both worlds that civilian agencies face. The operation in Rajanpur is unlikely to fix that problem. Are the police and civilian intelligence agencies in urban Punjab and central and north Punjab being better prepared, and have their resources been boosted for a fight that is certain to erupt at some point? There is no indication of that at all. Each time the civilians and the military leadership disagree on an issue, there is a tendency to cast it as a parochial dispute between two sides. But when it is Pakistan’s security at stake, all sides need to reflect on what the national interest truly means.
Rape victims
ACCORDING to a distressing news report on Friday, a young woman has accused her employer of raping and taking indecent photographs of her. She has alleged that she was also gang-raped by her employer and police personnel. Raped for eight months in Muzaffargarh district, she took the courageous step of approaching the Supreme Court — in the hope that other women would not have to suffer her ordeal. The statistics are troubling: in 2014, four women were raped in Pakistan everyday, according to War Against Rape. Although rape is clearly defined in Section 375 of the PPC as “a man having sexual intercourse with a woman against her will …”, the state fails to examine institutional and structural failures. HRCP statistics for 2014 recount women and girls as victims of 597 gang rapes, while 828 were raped and 36 stripped in public. Why are the numbers of registered rape cases lower than those reported in hospitals? Women refuse to register police reports because they are judged on the basis of their alleged behavioural history. The horrors of rape are compounded with an inappropriate line of questioning by law-enforcement authorities, such as, what sort of clothes she was wearing when raped.
It’s the constant shaming that feeds the history of rape impunity. With no forensic investigation, police do not immediately register a report leaving time for the victim to succumb to intimidation by the perpetrator, despite rape and gang rape being non-compoundable offences under the Protection of Women Act (Criminal Law Amendment), 2006. Medico-legal officers still use painful testing methods to verify the claims of a victim; DNA facilities are rare, and the need to check for physical evidence disregarded. Judges and lawyers will negotiate out-of-court settlements. If women report sexual abuse, they are often disbelieved or seen as partially responsible. Societal stigma shames victims. Women are raped on the orders of illegal panchayats and jirgas. Mukhtar Mai’s case in 2011 would perhaps have served as a deterrent, but only one of 14 alleged perpetrators accused of gang-raping her was convicted. Rape can only be addressed when perpetrators are prosecuted and shamed; and when victims are supported institutionally to name and shame. Presently, the police and judiciary appear to have failed the state as the protectors and arbiters of justice. Only when state institutions tackle the thinking that goes with violent patriarchal control over women will upward trends in crimes of violence dip.
Doctors’ strike
A CONFRONTATION between the administration and the Young Doctors’ Association in Balochistan is continuing and threatens to affect the anti-polio campaign in the province, besides adding to the miseries of patients. The situation turned ugly on Thursday when protesting doctors were baton-charged by police and faced tear-gas shelling in Quetta. The YDA says several doctors were injured in the melee. Originally, the medics had been protesting for higher pay and other demands. OPDs in the provincial capital have been severely affected while the YDA has said it will boycott the polio eradication campaign.
Doctors do have a right to demonstrate and press for their legitimate demands, and similar protests have been seen in other parts of the country over the past few years. But these protests should not come at the cost of patients. As it is, Balochistan’s health infrastructure is far from satisfactory, so when healthcare providers go on strike, the people’s miseries are compounded. People come to Quetta’s public hospitals from various parts of the province for medical care, and it is totally unacceptable to deprive them of medical facilities, leaving them with no option but to turn to private, more expensive, clinics — or even quacks for those who have few resources. Meanwhile, any attempt at boycotting the polio campaign must be roundly censured, especially in light of the country’s recent successes on this front. Though the crippling disease has still not been eradicated, recorded cases are down compared to last year, which makes it all the more important that no pauses or disruptions occur in the campaign. At the same time, police action against the doctors was unjustified, and Balochistan’s administration must take to task those officials who used force against the protesting medics. The provincial government should address the legitimate demands of the YDA and work swiftly to end the impasse. Both parties should realise that the welfare of the public must be kept paramount, and that there should be no disruptions whatsoever in the country’s polio eradication campaign.
Source: Editorials
Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2016