Parachinar bombing
A DEADLY terrorist attack with a grim death toll — the blast in a busy market in Parachinar, Kurram Agency, yesterday is a tragically familiar occurrence. Parachinar itself has suffered repeated violence: in June 2013, 57 people died in twin blasts in a market and at a taxi stand; and in December 2015, a market bombing killed 25. Nationally, the long war against militancy continues — while overall violence is significantly lower compared to several years ago, major attacks continue sporadically across the country. The latest Parachinar attack, though, raises at least three questions. One, do state officials fully understand the sectarian dimensions of militancy? Attacks in Shia-dominated Parachinar are invariably seen through the prism of sectarianism and the militants claiming such attacks themselves emphasise a sectarian motive. Indeed, from Al Qaeda to the banned TTP to overtly sectarian groups such as the Islamic State and Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, the sectarian dimension is central to radical Islamic militancy. That is something that government officials need to bluntly acknowledge instead of soft-pedalling the problem.
Second, in Kurram Agency, in recent days leaders of local militias have rejected a government deadline to turn in their heavy weapons, arguing that IS and other militant groups are still operating in Kurram as well as neighbouring regions of Afghanistan. Yesterday’s attack also calls into question the security arrangements in the agency. At the moment it is not clear if the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber, as claimed by militant groups, or if it was the result of a bomb hidden in the fruit and vegetable crates that are transported from neighbouring Kohat, as alleged by local officials. Either way, a bomb was carried into the district despite the several security check posts that exist around Parachinar and Kurram Agency. It is the oldest of questions in this long war that never seems to be satisfactorily answered: was there a security lapse and, if so, will there be a revision of security measures and accountability for the lapses identified?
Third, after the ritual condemnations of the bombing by the political and military leadership, will attention turn to the languishing National Action Plan? Since the change of army command, there have been several meetings in which lip service has been paid to NAP implementation, but the gamut of actions contemplated under the policy continue to be only selectively enforced. And within the selective enforcement too, there is a great deal of variation in the degree of effectiveness. With the interior ministry still denied the extensive funding it has sought for NAP; with the interior minister making frequent pronouncements that contradict the job he is tasked with; and with Nacta still a moribund organisation, NAP has mostly come down to the will and priorities of the military leadership. The civilian leadership surely needs to do more.
PPP revival — again
IT may be fashionable to say that Benazir Bhutto’s son must overcome Asif Ali Zardari’s influence on his politics.
But the actual task of infusing some life into the PPP outside Sindh will require far more than Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari having a freer hand to run the party.
The Zardari factor is something to contend with, as highlighted by the refrain accompanying the recent party activity including a rally from Lahore to Faisalabad.
Party organisation is daunting work in itself especially when much of it has been eaten into by others, especially the PTI.
There is no PPP organisation in Punjab and other vast areas in the country. And one can be frank about it: the cadres disappeared not because they had any principled differences with Mr Zardari.
They fled after they were convinced Mr Zardari was not likely to throw a big enough challenge to the Sharifs.
They tolerated and stayed with Mr Zardari until they were sure about his future. Now as he tries desperately to reclaim some of the old workers, Mr Bhutto-Zardari must restore his party’s status as a serious contender for power.
If this most difficult goal is achieved the chances of him winning them back will brighten.
There are issues with how he is going about it. The PPP chairman has been lashing out at the Sharifs without apparently considering it necessary to find fault with the party that has replaced the PPP as the main opposition to the PML-N.
At best his — indirect — references to Imran Khan’s potential, or lack of it, have been vague or subdued.
His mention of Z.A. Bhutto and his legacy today do not quite ignite the positive nostalgia they did in the past.
Even Ms Bhutto would appear to so many today to be lost somewhere deep in history. The PPP headed by Bhutto and then Benazir Bhutto is done and dusted.
There is more interest in finding out what the chairman’s answers are to the recent allegations of corruption against the PPP, and the workers want a new party altogether.
It would make sense if he were to choose to respond to some of these current allegations with facts at his public meetings. Also, it is important he take on the PTI simultaneously as he goes after the PML-N.
In the end, Mr Bhutto-Zardari must come up with positive examples from his own government in Sindh to start being relevant in Punjab and beyond.
Projects or photo ops?
THIS penchant for cutting ribbons and unveiling plaques that our government functionaries appear to have can get a little puzzling at times. It is government by photo op while the real nature of the projects being inaugurated amidst all the pageantry remains shrouded in mystery. A few days ago, we had an opportunity to witness a ribbon being cut for the second time for a project in Azad Kashmir. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had first done the needful 15 months ago at what was ostensibly the groundbreaking ceremony of the Gulpur hydropower plant. But oddly enough, this week the Private Power Infrastructure Board held another ‘foundation stone-laying ceremony’ for the same project. Someone in government needs to answer why the project is being inaugurated again, and, once that has been sorted out, why there has been a 15-month gap between the two ‘inaugurations’.
One explanation is that it has to do with delays in obtaining financial close on the project. It turns out that the prime minister had cut the ribbon before the project achieved financial close. But once that milestone was crossed, the PPIB could not resist the temptation of having a second round of fanfare. This excessive partiality for ceremonial self-congratulation could be taken in stride if there was evidence of competent follow-up on project selection and execution. But there is now a string of such ceremonial photo ops for projects whose merit has been cast in doubt — such as the Nandipur power plant, or initiatives that were later shelved because of their defective feasibility such as the Gadani Power Park. This rush for photo ops and bragging rights, quite apart from the absurdity of cutting a ribbon for the same project twice, is unseemly and lends the government’s development approach an air of amateurishness. Is it too much to ask that cutting ribbons, unveiling plaques and making congratulatory speeches be held off until some concrete progress on ongoing projects is achieved? It would certainly save many of us from an embarrassing spectacle.
Source: Editorials
Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2017