Auditing asset declarations
THE move by the Election Commission of Pakistan to conduct random audits of asset declarations filed by election candidates is a long overdue step. The whole exercise of filing asset declarations by all elected representatives is a legal requirement for good reason, and not just a procedural formality. Elected members have been treating it casually thus far, with many failing to even fulfil the condition of filing asset declarations of their spouses and dependants as required by the law. Thus far, all declarations have been simply filed away, and old ones even removed from the ECP website. This turns the entire exercise into a meaningless formality, because the declarations submitted stand in stark contrast to the visible lifestyles that many of the lawmakers lead. For instance, several among them claim to not own a car, yet they are seen moving around in a motorcade. Clearly, these people are making full use of assets that they are unwilling to disclose in writing, raising obvious questions.
Hopefully, the ECP will not take this obligation lightly. Auditing asset declarations will require specialised expertise, as well as a rigorous selection methodology that must be truly and transparently random. If the names of important legislators from the ruling party should come up during the selection exercise, they will need to be pursued as vigorously as those of anybody else. If the exercise turns out to be weak, or is viewed as a tool to victimise political opponents, it will simply add to the pointless bickering that fuels so much of our political culture. Clearly, it will not be easy to avoid these pitfalls.
It would also be a good idea to monitor election expenses more vigorously. The same law that mandates the asset declarations also places a ceiling on how much candidates contesting the elections are allowed to spend. That ceiling is currently set at Rs1.5 million for national and Rs1m for a provincial assembly seat. But going by the kind of cash that is spent in some constituencies, for example the NA-122 by-election last year, which saw obscene amounts of money and gifts being showered upon the electorate, candidates are still able to assert they stayed within the ceiling by claiming that the funds were spent by their ‘supporters’. Likewise, they get away with declaring negligible assets and claiming that the lifestyle they are seen living is paid for by others, including family members. Clearly, money raised from rackets is playing a growing role in politics, and in turn political power is being used to support and maintain these rackets as a quid pro quo. This is the jugular vein of contemporary Pakistani politics, and if the ECP wants to take action, it must do so in a strong and credible manner.
Kabul-Taliban talks
THE news has been swiftly and emphatically denied, but in the past too there have been denials after the news was broken. In all likelihood, the Afghan government and the Afghan Taliban have, indeed, met for tentative early talks in Qatar over the past month — a revelation that introduces a positive element into the relentlessly negative news from Afghanistan in recent months. While the Taliban do appear to be committed to waging war on the battlefield and incrementally expanding their zones of influence and areas of control across Afghanistan, the very notion that senior Taliban leaders are willing to meet Afghan government officials suggests that there is an understanding that total victory on the battlefield remains an unlikely possibility for the Taliban. That notion has been reinforced by the US and Nato commitments to not only finance the Afghan security forces until at least 2020, but for American troops to once again help fight the Taliban. With the National Unity Government also not unravelling, despite the clear and continuing strains, the possibility of state collapse in Afghanistan is low. And while there should be no illusions about the Taliban’s capacity and willingness to wage an endless war, there is the reality that a war that cannot be decisively won opens the door to a negotiated, political settlement.
For Pakistan, the latest revelations offer both an opportunity and the possibility of further complications. According to news reports, Pakistan has not played a role in the recent contacts between the Afghan government and the Taliban, allegedly because both sides are wary of Pakistani involvement. That is not necessarily a problem for Pakistan: an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process has been the mantra of all stakeholders, internal and external, for a while and if a process can be kick-started without direct Pakistani assistance or involvement, that could be interpreted as a positive development. At the very least, Pakistan should not try and disrupt contacts between the warring Afghan sides — much of the blame that is heaped on it, including in the latest news reports, is linked to the belief that Pakistan prefers a negotiating process that gives it a prominent say in what is decided. Indeed, Pakistan should consider doing the opposite: encouraging whatever political contacts the warring Afghan sides want to have and discouraging cross-border militancy. A peaceful and stable Afghanistan is in Pakistan’s interests, but the peace and stability must be forged by the Afghans themselves.
Jerusalem resolution
JERUSALEM is one of the world’s most sacred — and contested — cities. Yet what is beyond doubt is that ever since 1967, Israel has been occupying Arab East Jerusalem, a fact that virtually the entire global community recognises. However, any mention of the city’s Palestinian and Arab character, and the fact that it is under illegal occupation, is enough to send the Israeli establishment — which considers the city its ‘eternal capital’ — into a paroxysm of rage. This is exactly what happened when Unesco recently passed an Arab-sponsored resolution critical of Israel’s actions in the holy city. The resolution refers to “occupied Palestine” and terms the Zionist state the “occupying power”, while criticising Israeli attempts to restrict Muslims’ access to the Al Aqsa complex. As a result of the Unesco resolution, which was passed by a vote of 24-6, with 26 abstentions, Israel has ‘suspended’ cooperation with the UN’s cultural body, while claiming that the resolution denies Jewish historical links to Al Aqsa, which Israel refers to as the Temple Mount. This accusation is patently false as the resolution recognises the fact that Jerusalem — Al Quds to the Arabs — is sacred to all three great monotheistic faiths: Islam, Christianity and Judaism. What the document highlights — much to Tel Aviv’s chagrin — is Israel’s high-handedness in Jerusalem. In the recent past, there have been calls by extremist Jews to demolish Al Aqsa and replace it with the ‘Third Temple’.
Unesco has taken a bold step by passing the resolution, even though many in the Western bloc opposed it. The UN body in the past has also taken progressive steps where the Arab-Israeli dispute is concerned; for example, in 2011 it admitted Palestine as a member, for which it was punished by the US — Israel’s biggest benefactor — as Washington blocked funds for the cultural body. The Unesco resolution may be a small victory for the Palestinians; but perhaps it offers this dispossessed nation the hope that, one day, they will be able to live with freedom and dignity in their homeland.
Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2016