Date: Wednesday, October 19th, 2016.
A confrontation too far
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf has announced that it is to delay its planned October 30 blockade of Islamabad until November 2 in order not to interfere with important Bar elections which is all very well but there are deep concerns. To call the actions that the PTI is proposing ‘peaceful’ is fallacious. The blockading, as in impeding the day-to-day working of government departments and the passage to and fro of normal business and their employees is far from peaceful. It is an aggressive intervention that is going to have consequences that are likely to be violent and potentially destructive, and the PTI must be aware of that.
The PTI has every right to protest about whatsoever it chooses, but the threat to close down the operations of governance is a dangerously high-risk strategy that could trigger instability not only in Islamabad but other parts of the country as well if the PTI decides to exercise its muscle on the streets. As recent rallies have shown the PTI still carries considerable street-weight. The party can bring hundreds of thousands on to the streets, and if it says that it will blockade the organs of governance in Islamabad then it has to be taken at face value.
For the government there are few options. Principal among those is the use of force and it may be that this is what the PTI is seeking to provoke. The government is duty bound to physically protect the offices of state. Alternatively the government could at least in part accede to some of the PTI demands for an inquiry specific to the Sharif family who maintain they have done no wrong — then allow that to be proven by inquiry. Another option would be to counter the blockade by the physical diversion of PTI convoys to areas outside the city centre — again with violent consequences. The Panama Papers are not going away, and that reality has to be reconciled with governance — and violent confrontation is going to solve nothing either.
Playing with the Big Boys
Although he is unlikely to have realised it at the time and quite possibly later, Indian PM Modi got his head handed to him by the BRICS nations. The BRICS summit was not the place to play poker with stone-eyed high rollers like Russia and China and inveigle them into a position that suits your domestic narrative. The BRICS states: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, comprise two of the most powerful states in the world after the US, and two of the most powerful states in the southern hemisphere. India is something of a lightweight compared to other members, and Mr Modi, to quote an observer ‘does not know when to fold’. The BRICS group is not just an opportunity for smiles and photo-ops, it is about hard business. China is probably the most kinetic member of the group, and the state that carries the greatest heft when it comes to organising other states, including India with which it has a dynamic trading relationship, into a shape conducive to the achievement of its own long-term goals. Peripheral but closely related to BRICS is the Chinese relationship with Pakistan which although a non-BRICS state is key to Chinese exploitation of its investments in Central Africa in particular.
Thus it is no surprise that China weighed in on the Pakistan side by not toeing the Modi line, essentially backing the Indian opposition parties in doing so. China has zero interest in isolating Pakistan and very considerable interest in India and Pakistan de-escalating their conflict over Kashmir which to say the least is inconvenient for them. Terrorism is the headline issue but trade is the running subtext, that and the expansion of wealth and stability nationally and regionally. The Modi move bought him nothing ultimately, and if he wants to play Big Boys Games then he needs to study the Big Boys Rules first.
Easing transport troubles
Expanding the Lahore Metro Bus service and adding 200 new buses will, hopefully, ease some of Lahore’s transport woes. Since its launch, the metro bus system has been much criticised, and often very rightfully so, for its high expenditure and cost ineffective transport system, but the need for a mass transit system is undeniable. The metro bus offers not only an affordable and comfortable journey, but also a dignified one. The way in which people are forced to commute in Pakistan, hanging out from bus exits and sitting atop the roof is not only dangerous, gender-discriminatory and extremely inconvenient, but also comes with a major health cost.
The metro bus service, then, offers some alternatives to countless who are restricted in employment and other opportunities by their lack of mobility. But the public transport crisis in Pakistan must be taken more seriously across the board and in more simpler ways, such as merely adding the number of buses on the streets. The Punjab government also needs to expand its focus from Lahore to other parts of Punjab, while other provincial governments, especially that of Sindh, needs to gear up and provide an efficient transport system to Karachi’s nearly 22 million residents. In fact, Karachi’s bus network has been on the decline, while population has only increased. There are roughly 9,527 operational minibuses in Karachi, as compared to the 22,313 it had in 2011.
In the past decade, the country’s urban centres have seen rapid investments in road and bridge construction. All this have been for those who can afford private motorised transport and even then, the traffic situation has not improved. Same is the case in Lahore. Despite huge investments, grave traffic problems remain. The Punjab government needs to introspect as to why they have so far failed in providing more efficient ways to address public transport and traffic problems and focus on lon1g-term solutions aimed at reducing gender and class discrimination in everyday public life.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 19th, 2016.