Ardeshir Cowasjee (Dawn Sunday)

[Wounded Healer]

The depths to which we sink




By Ardeshir Cowasjee

THIS is no way to run a country. We are being let down. Not only has the gap between the promises and the delivery widened to its fullest extent but too many things, through sheer non-governance, are going wrong at one and the same time.

On February 12 of this year, our president, General Pervez Musharraf, in an address at the Joint Staff headquarters, assured his audience that “the writ of the state will be maintained at all costs, no matter what it takes.” While he spoke, a few cannon ball shots away in our capital Islamabad, the writ of the state was being trampled upon with impunity by a bunch of burqa-clad baton wielding students of the Jamia Hafsa madressah who, since January 21, had been in occupation of a children’s library which neighboured both the madressah and the Lal Masjid on Murree Road.

The bone of contention that had prompted the mullahs of Lal Masjid to activate the girls of the madressah and throw them into the fray was the threatened demolition by the Capital Development Authority of a few of the 80 or so illegally constructed mosques in Islamabad, one target being the Lal Masjid in the interests of a road widening project. When the CDA men moved in to demolish whatever had to be demolished, the mullahs of the Lal Masjid retaliated by ordering the madressah girls to arm themselves with batons, come out and take over the library. The government and its fearsome law enforcement agencies pleaded helplessness – they made not a move.

That February day, while Musharraf spoke, his minister for religious affairs, Ejaz, son of Ziaul Haq who had allowed all the illegal mosque constructions, went to the Lal Masjid, hat in hand, assured the mullahs that no further demolition would take place, symbolically laid a brick in a partially-demolished wall, and happily fed the mullahs sweetmeats and in turn was fed.

The occupation of the library continues and last week the girls moved out of the library, took to the streets with their batons where they were joined by male students of other madressahs, raided an alleged brothel, took three women who had allegedly engaged in ‘immoral activities’ (the world’s oldest profession) as hostages, threatened shops selling CDs, VCDs etc, kidnapped two policemen and two police vehicles, made merry, had a good time, and, after a few hours of gentle negotiations with the police, agreed to return to the status quo ante and dispersed – the burqa brigade going back to their conquered library.

One might well say, flippantly and in desperation, well done to the burqa brigade for asserting themselves – for living up to General Musharraf’s scheme to ‘empower’ women, particularly in the light of how their less advantaged sister citizens fare in the Islamic Republic. According to statistics published last week, during 2006, some 12,000 women were found to have been victims of violence (the true number, unreported, may exceed this figure by hundreds of thousands).

Over 7,500 were criminally ‘tortured’, 200 of them suffering at the hands of the police ; over 250 were gang-raped ; 800 were victims of that disgusting habit known as ‘honour killings’, a phrase which should be expunged from the national lexicon and replaced with straightforward premeditated murder; over 1,300 were murdered under various circumstances; over 800 reportedly committed suicide; there were 500 reported cases of sexual harassment; 200 were burnt to death, victims of family feuds; over 100 were ‘sold’ in murder cases.

So much for the much trumpeted women’s empowerment bill which so far has done nothing to ease the prevalent attitude towards women. But then, this is to be expected in a land where the writ of the law does not apply, where law and order is a foreign concept and where civilised behaviour is not only largely unknown but not encouraged.With the judicial system in turmoil because of the hamfisted actions of a dysfunctional government, which in the main acts against the interests of the people – and the much touted ‘larger national interest’- and the Chief Justice of Pakistan who has been rendered ‘non-functional’, suspended and sent on forced leave at one and the same time, the agencies continue to pick up citizens who simply disappear. Is our vastly overpopulated mango republic converting itself into a banana republic? Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry did as much as he could in the case of the many who ‘disappeared’, even taking suo motu action, but as his jurisdiction did not extend to the unheeding disinterested government and its agencies, his success was limited.

Last week Secretary-General Iqbal Haider of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in a statement issued to the press informed us that citizens of Pakistan continued to be arrested, or simply abducted, with no reason given and no trace of their whereabouts. He cited several recent cases of disappearances which continued despite the petitions still being heard by the Supreme Court.

The president may insist that there are no pick-ups, no forced disappearances, and that those who are untraceable have disappeared at their own volition, joining militant jihadi groups to wage war in the name of God and religion in this lawless land. Facts belie his belief, for the majority of those who have disappeared are Baloch and Sindhi nationalists who are fighting their own battles for provincial autonomy. Are the honourable judges who sit on the benches of our courts ignorant of the words habeas corpus?

Balochistan and the Frontier province are out of control. The other two provinces have some semblance of governance which merely benefits a chosen few. The 80,000-strong legal fraternity is up in arms. One must wonder where these ‘learned friends’ were and their protest marches and strikes in November 1997 when a sitting prime minister arranged for the physical storming of the Supreme Court, while the Chief Justice of Pakistan was hearing a contempt case against him, and got away with it scot free.

Musharraf’s national plate is full, but he soldiers on regardless, with the same old discredited team which has served him so ill, his sole support coming from his friends in Washington.


Lal Masjid ‘brigade’ kidnaps 4 policemen




By Syed Irfan Raza & Mohammad Asghar

ISLAMABAD, May 18: The Lal Masjid ‘brigade’ on Friday made four policemen hostage, accusing them of ‘spying’ for the government and raising the fear of a possible crackdown.

Later in the night, police registered an FIR against the two Lal Masjid clerics and 72 of their followers, citing terrorism and other charges. More details of the FIR were not available.

Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah and senior security officials held a meeting with the clercis late on Friday night and put all security agencies on high alert.

There was a likelihood that security forces might mount an assault on the mosque but no action was taken till the filing of this report.

Local administration moved to increase the number of security personnel deployed around the mosque following the kidnapping incident and tried to negotiate the release of the kidnapped policemen.

But talks, conducted by Magistrate Farasat Ali and Assistant Superintendent of Police Kamran Adil, broke down when Maulana Abdul Aziz and his brother Maulana Abdul Rasheed Ghazi refused to wait until Saturday morning for the release of 11 of their colleagues earlier detained by security agencies.

This is the second time that the Lal Masjid militants have humiliated the government by taking policemen hostage.

The detained policemen were identified as ASI Aurangzeb and constables Jehangir, Yasin Shal and Arshad Ahmed. They all belong to the Barakahu police station.

In his Friday sermon, the in-charge of Lal Masjid, Maulana Abdul Aziz again threatened the government of suicide attacks all over the county if any operation was conducted against the mosque administration.

Condemning Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Ijazul Haq’s statement that an operation was likely against the hard-line clerics, the Maulana said the mosque’s supporters were ready to carry out ‘Fidai’ (suicide) attacks.

“I invite the government to conduct the operation and see what will happen in the country,” he threatened.

He also warned that government officials would be ‘kidnapped’ if 11 of their colleagues, picked up by security agencies in earlier operations, were not released immediately.

He also asked the government to curtail the perks and privileges of parliamentarians, equalising them with the salary of the common man.

According to Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the mosque’s deputy in-charge, the policemen, who were in plain clothes, were outside the mosque on a ‘spying mission’.

“We had already advised the local administration not to carry out such acts which could aggravate the situation but it chose to ignore our warnings,” he said.

[Wounded Healer]

The up and down sides of press freedom




By Ardeshir Cowasjee

EVEN the President General Musharraf’s most ardent opponents are unable to dispute the fact that under his regime the press and electronic media have never been as free as they are now to express whatever views they wish to report whatever facts they find — mostly right, sometimes wrong.

From 1999 onwards, the press has carried anti-General Pervez Musharraf columns and reports written by diehard democrats, upholders of the Constitution, and those opposed to any form of military rule. By and large, the president has not reacted.

There have been a couple of unfortunate and foolish incidents on occasions when he has allowed himself to rise to the bait and to name and castigate publicly several individual journalists whom he considered had gone overboard in relation to the ‘national interest’. That went down badly, nationally and internationally, and many adverse comments were expressed.

The electronic media has flourished. The number of private channels has multiplied rabbit-like over the past five years or so and all are generally allowed a free run to criticise and lambaste the president, his government and administration. But, here again, there have been unfortunate lapses.

These channels have had and are still having dozens of field days since the March 9 happening, on which day the president, furthering press freedom, made the most ridiculous and damaging gesture and summoned the state controlled television channel to show him in his military uniform humiliating a black-coated Chief Justice of Pakistan. If ever there was a monumental blunder in the name of freedom of expression, this was it.

All this is the upside. On the downside we have certain actions taken by the government and the agencies against individuals and publications who and which for reasons undisclosed (but which can easily be fathomed out) they feel have endangered their policies.

All this has been set out in a letter dated April 27, 2007, addressed to General Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan, by Brad Adams, Executive Director of the US-based Human Rights Watch.

The HRW is firstly concerned with the “increasing attempts by the Pakistan government to muzzle the media.” The cases cited include attempts to silence Aaj TV, the banning of Sindh TV for a fortnight, instructions to the Punjab government to take ARY off the air, the refusal to renew the licence of Mast FM103, the banning of a weekly BBC-made programme critical of the government handling of the 2005 earthquake aftermath, the attack on Geo TV on March 13 which was aired by that channel and beamed all over the world, and “improper pressures” on this publication.

One fact given in support of the HRW accusations is that in October, 2002, prior to the coming of this incredibly awful government, Pakistan ranked 119 out of 166 in the Reporters Sans Frontieres Press Freedom Index, and by December 2006 it had slipped to 157. This dismally reflects the quality of our democratic freely and fairly elected government.

Dawn, “one of Pakistan’s most highly regarded newspapers, well known for high standards of journalism and the integrity and honesty of its staff,” has suffered. The federal and Sindh governments are accused of pressuring the paper into supporting government policies in Balochistan, in the Afghan border areas, its covert support to militants in Kashmir, various human rights issues, and the matter of dubious ‘disappearances’, cases concerning which were taken up in the Supreme Court by the Chief Justice of Pakistan now under siege.

The pressure took the form of withholding government advertisements, slashing them and the paper’s revenue source, by 60 per cent. Dawn has filed a petition in the Sindh High Court which is being heard.

A television broadcast licence has also been withheld from the Dawn Group despite the fact that it had already been approved by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority.

As we have so often read, journalists covering the Afghan border areas have been killed, have ‘disappeared’, have been bullied, have been threatened. The same goes for those involved in the Balochistan insurgency.

As Mr Adams gently puts it: “Threatening calls from intelligence, military or unknown sources are a regular hazard for many journalists. These have increased since your March 9 decision to undermine judicial independence by arbitrarily dismissing (should be ‘suspending’) the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The Pakistan print and electronic media have faced immense pressure, coercion and even violent attacks by your government in order to tone down coverage of anti-government protests and the peaceful campaign to restore the Chief Justice.”

The letter was written before the Sindh government to so brilliantly made the private news channels disappear from the air waves on the evening of Saturday May 5, though they were being aired elsewhere all over the country showing the epic journey of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry from Islamabad to Lahore.

Then, of course, as we who write know too well, “the government has sought to, and frequently succeeded in, forcing publications to engage in self-censorship.”

Mr Adams has urged General Musharraf and his government “to act in accordance with the Johannesburg Principles on National Security, Freedom of Expression and Access to Information standards drafted by international law and global rights experts in 1995 and endorsed by the United Nations special rapporteurs on freedom of expression and on the independence of judges and lawyers.”

Principle 19 of these standards provides that “governments may not prevent journalists from entering areas where there are reasonable grounds to believe that violations of human rights or humanitarian law are being or have been committed. Governments may not exclude journalists or representatives of such organisations from areas that are experiencing violence or armed conflict except where their presence would pose a clear risk to the safety of others.”

Accordingly, the government of Pakistan stands accused of having consistently violated this particular principle in the tribal areas, in Balochistan and in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. And, tellingly and undeniably: “Your government’s failure to allow freedom of expression as required by international law has become yet another symbol of the lack of rule of law in Pakistan…”

Mr Adams ended: “I look forward to your reply.” If there has been a reply, would it not be fitting that it should be published in our press?


http://dawn.com.pk/weekly/cowas/cowas.htm

[Wounded Healer]

The maker and the shakers




By Ardeshir Cowasjee

MOHAMMAD Ali Jinnah: Achieved his ambition, founded a country, which, he hoped (vainly, as it turned out), would be modern and democratic, a homeland in which they could live and prosper.

He enunciated his creed while addressing the first session of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on August 11, 1947, in which he clearly set forth the direction he intended his country to take. Law and order was to be the first duty of any government, and religion was not to be the business of the state. He later decreed that Pakistan would not be a theocracy to be ruled by priests with a divine mission.

He did good, he was fair, just and equitable, free of bigotry or hypocrisy, and scrupulously honest both morally and materially.

Jinnah was the first governor-general of the Dominion of Pakistan and died as such on September 11, 1948. He once told a friend that each successive government of Pakistan would be worse than its predecessor — a prediction which has sadly come to pass.

Now, to list just a few of the incompetent shakers who followed, mediocre at best, all shallow.

Khwaja Nazimuddin: Governor-general from September 14, 1948, to October 17, 1951, and prime minister from the latter date to April 17, 1953, when dismissed by Governor-General Ghulam Mohammed. A gentleman sportsman, he was never in tune with the politicians with whom he worked.

Malik Ghulam Mohammed: Jinnah chose him as his finance minister in which position he remained until intrigue and convenience made him the third governor-general ( October 19, 1951, to October 15, 1955).He set the trend by dissolving the first Constituent Assembly in October 1954.

Speaker Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan approached the Sindh High Court and his petition against the dissolution was upheld by Chief Justice Sir George Constantine. Ghulam Mohammad appealed against this decision to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mohammed Munir, who, in his infinite wisdom, accepted the appeal in March 1955.

From that moment onwards, the nation has looked upon the judiciary with suspicion and distrust. It became an accepted fact that the law can be read and interpreted as the men in power desire. Ghulam Mohammed fell ill, and was deposed.

Major General Iskander Mirza: Born November 13, 1899, died November 13, 1969. After partition he served, inter alia, as our defence secretary, minister of the interior, and governor of East Pakistan. When Ghulam Mohammad was deposed, the politicians in power appointed him as their fourth governor-general in which post he remained from October 16, 1955, to March 22, 1956, on which date he became the first president of Pakistan.

On October 27, 1958, he was deposed by his defence minister, army commander-in-chief General Mohammad Ayub Khan. Mirza was exiled and sent to London, where he worked for his living and died an honourable man. He is remembered with muted respect as a man to whom injustice was done.

Mohammad Ayub Khan: The first martial law administrator of the Republic of Pakistan which he declared himself to be on October 7, 1958, adding to it the title of president on October 27 of that year. He was the man under whom this country, for his first few years in power, was seen to be a country developing in the right direction, with the economy and industry booming.

He is remembered for his innovative system of Basic Democracy — a flop — for his ‘decade of development’ — a misnomer — and for his disastrous 1965 war with India. His decline thereafter was speedy, and sick and tired, protecting himself, he handed over power to his army chief on March 25 1969.

Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan: General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan, Rangila Raja, a good soldier but a bad martial law administrator and head of state (March 25, 1969 — December 19, 1971). He is remembered for having saved the library at the Staff College, Quetta, when an instructor at that institution. He held the only relatively free and fair elections in the country. But he allowed himself to be manipulated by cunning politician Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and is blamed for having thrown away half the country. He died, as he had lived, within his meagre means — fiscally honest, but an exceedingly foolish man.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto: The first ever civilian martial law administrator holding conjointly the post of president of the republic, which dual post he held from December 20, 1971, to August 14, 1973, on which date he promulgated a constitution at noon, which he effectively distorted some four hours later, and declared himself prime minister. He is remembered for all the wrong things, for the evil he did, and for being hanged. His younger son died in mysterious circumstances during the presidency of his successor and executor, his elder son was murdered during the prime ministership of his daughter Benazir.

Mohammad Ziaul Haq: Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, always afraid of the army, to replace the retiring army chief Tikka Khan in February 1976 chose a junior general, sixth down the line, Ziaul Haq. Zia was selected for the subservience he had exhibited while a corps commander. The fact that his confidential report declared him to be ambitious and not to be trusted was ignored.

In 1977, much to the delight of the people, he deposed Bhutto and took over the country as its third martial law administrator (July 5, 1977, to December 31, 1985) announcing immediately that he would march back to his barracks in 90 days’ time. In September 1978, he took over the presidency, remaining president of the Republic until blown up in the skies on August 17, 1988. He, likewise, is remembered for much wrong, most importantly for the misuse and abuse of religion to keep himself in power. His legacy haunts us, 19 years down the line.

Benazir Bhutto: Prime minister, twice elected, twice dismissed for corruption and misuse of power — December 2, 1988, to August 6, 1990, and October 19, 1993, to November 5, 1996. She is now desperately trying to get off the hook.

Nawaz Sharif: Prime minister, twice elected, twice dismissed for the same reasons, alternating with Benazir — November 6, 1990, to July 17, 1993, (with a short break between the dismissal of his government on April 18, 1993, and its restoration on May 26, 1993) and from February 17, 1997, to October 12, 1999. The only ‘democratic’ prime minister to have organised a storming of his Supreme Court by his partymen.

Ghulam Ishaq Khan: He took over the presidency on August 17, 1998. He manoeuvred and manipulated elections and the goings and comings of prime ministers until July 19, 1993, when he was forced by his chief of army staff, General Waheed Kakar, to resign, taking with him his prime minister Nawaz Sharif, largely responsible for his downfall. A man of strict financial probity, he allowed his sons-in-law to run riot in the corruption field.

He was intellectually dishonest, he bargained with and bowed to politicians he himself had booted out and discredited — Benazir and husband Asif Zardari — so that he could win himself a second presidential term. He finally went home, a tired old man.

Sardar Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari: Elected president on November 14, 1993, by his party chief Benazir and her men. He, as do all, succumbed to the heat from the seat of power and his good deeds as a civil servant and minister faded into oblivion. He bargained with Nawaz Sharif, a man he disliked and distrusted, so that he could gain a second term as president. He resigned his office on December 2, 1997, after the storming of the Supreme Court and the removal of the Chief Justice of Pakistan.

Pervez Musharraf: General of the army, Chief of Army Staff. He had no alternative on October 12, 1999, but to take over the country from a most foolish prime minister, Nawaz Sharif. He operated under the title ‘chief executive’ until June 20, 2001, when he declared himself president of the republic before setting off on a much heralded trip to India. On November 16, 2002, following the general elections, he took his second oath as president of the republic.

Under the circumstances, many of us considered him to be the best of the worst available to lead the country. He has failed to deliver on all his promises. Whatever good he has done will be ‘interred with his bones’.

He was in a position to avoid the killings and mayhem which engulfed Karachi on May 12 and the responsibility for death and injury must ultimately rest on him, the buck stopping where it stops.

The advertisement inserted by his InfoMin in the press on May 16, portraying him and his prime minister, subject ‘Karachi belongs to all of us’, mocks the people of this city.

His interview with Aaj TV, broadcast on the night of May 18, clearly conveyed that he considers himself the best man to head Pakistan, come hell or high water.

There is little to look forward to. Blighted?


http://dawn.com.pk/weekly/cowas/cowas.htm

[Wounded Healer]

The centre of gravity




By Ardeshir Cowasjee

“I, Shabana Hammad Raza, widow of Syed Hammad Raza, do hereby state that on 14-5-07 at about 4:15 a.m. I, along with my husband and three kids, were sleeping in the bedroom situated in the upper storey of our official residence. I and my husband woke up hearing banging on the door of the bedroom. I thought that my father-in-law was in need of some medical attention and was knocking at the door. My husband opened the door.

“As soon as he opened the door, I saw four people armed, standing at the door. One of them fired directly at my husband which hit him on his head. He fell down on the floor. The intruders ran downstairs and rushed out of the residence. During this incident, neither my husband offered any resistance to the intruders nor did the intruders demand anything from myself or my husband. I can recognise the criminals.”

This is a statement, written by the young widow in her own hand, given to the Lahore police shortly after her husband’s body had been taken to that city to be buried. Young Hammad was shot at point blank range, shot to kill, the killer and his companions obviously having no other motive for their visit than to kill.

Judicial inquiries, police inquiries and any other sort of inquiries can be held, ad nauseam, but as with all such matters, we will never know the identity of the man who pulled the trigger or those who ordered him to do so, or the reason for which this young bureaucrat had his life taken away. (Acting Chief Justice Rana Bhagwandas has ordered that Hammad’s family be given suitable compensation, monetary and otherwise. This is fair and just, but then no amount of money can compensate for a life.)

The murder of a prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, over half a century ago, remains unsolved, as does the assassination of Hayat Sherpao, of Murtaza Bhutto and many other Pakistanis who have paid with their lives for the selfish and wicked aims of their contemporaries in power.

However, in all cases, as in this particular one, it must be the man (or woman) at the top, who holds the national reins, at whose door the buck stops, who must bear the responsibility for the loss of life, limb and property, whether he or she be privy to the actual plan and action or not. President General Pervez Musharraf, now being the holder of ultimate power in this Republic of Pakistan, is responsible for Hammad’s untimely and useless death.

As he is responsible for the general state of the nation today, for the judicial-legal crisis, for the happenings in Karachi on May 12, for not being able or willing to follow the diktat of a man he professes to admire and ensure that what Mohammad Ali Jinnah desired for the country he created came to pass – that religion would not be the business of the state.

Had he done so, it may be that we would have had far less bloodshed, that there would have been far less ethnic and sectarian strife, and that millions of innocents would not still be subjected to the iniquities of the Hadood and Blasphemy laws, and such other laws that are made on the premise of false religious practices.

The general, now more than ever before in his lengthy stewardship of this country, needs to sit back and calmly take stock of how and why it is that he finds himself in the bind in which he now is, rather than rushing in, commando-style, and making statements which are found to be so outlandish as to merit multiple comments in our press and electronic media (the channels available grow by the day – and congratulations to the Dawn group on the emergence of their news channel).

Musharraf has been a soldier for most of his life. He joined the Pakistan Military Academy in 1961(PMA-29), graduating in 1964 (PA-6920), and has worn his uniform for 46 long years. So there is no reason not to believe him when he said the other day that his uniform was like a second skin to him. It should be, but then, chameleon-like, he must have no doubt that one day – perhaps one day soon – circumstances will force him to shed it, leaving him with but his one original skin.

One positive sign came in his recent interview with The Globe and Mail (Canada) which was published in our press last week. When asked if he believed that extremism and terrorism could only be defeated with him at the helm of affairs, he admitted that nobody was indispensable. According to him, parliament is functioning and “there is an automatic system of throwing up leaders.”

He was disappointing on the question of Karachi and May 12. It is his rather strange view that the MQM has some sort of monopoly on our city. Why should anyone (meaning the Chief Justice of Pakistan and his legal team) he asked, go to Karachi “to fan trouble” when there was “a show of force by the MQM” who are able to get hundreds and thousands of people out on the streets? Secondly, he seemed puzzled as to why Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was reluctant to accept the government hospitality offered to him – that should have been perfectly understandable.

As to his involvement in the day’s disaster, he pleaded complete innocence. “I don’t know who initiated the firing. Who did the firing is the question…. But the political response was a natural one. If they [the MQM] had not done it, these people [the CJP and lawyers] with all their supporters were going to go all over Karachi…. So therefore a reaction by the MQM…. to cast aspersions, this is exactly what the opposition wants to do…. And I would like to blame the opposition for politicising this whole dispute and I would like to blame these people who went in spite of the fact that Karachi is the stronghold of the MQM....”.

This is not good enough, it makes no sense, he is wrong. Is this a democracy only in name – we have according to the general, “the essence of democracy”? As such, there can be no such thing as no-go areas, no cities which are strongholds into which political rivals or others may not tread.

One complaint made by Gen Musharraf to his interviewer was that “they” think he is “the centre of gravity” and that by destabilising him “they” think they can achieve their goals. The fact is that he is the centre of gravity, but the problem is that if he is destabilized, none of us may achieve our goals as what may follow him is unknown and could be dangerous as far as achieving any goals are concerned.

With the destabilisation that continues in the country since early this year – what with the NWFP, Balochistan after Bugti, the Lal Masjid scenario in the heart of the capital city, the lawyers on the rampage, the judicial system preoccupied, the Karachi situation volatile and prone to implosion again with the MQM-Pathan stand-off. Our international well-wishers and supporters are agonizingly examining a post-Musharraf Pakistan. Though undoubtedly the sole superpower has a Plan B stashed away for us.

However, all is not lost. It is doubtful that this present imbroglio, as complicated as it may be, will be the downfall of our president general, and after all we could have done much worse than have him arranging or disarranging our lives.

To quote from The Economist of May 17, and its lengthy article on Pakistan aptly titled ‘A general state of disarray’ :

“Such has been the political cycle in Pakistan: bad democratic government, yielding to unpopular military government and then to democratic messiness again. It is unclear whether the wheel is about to turn on General Musharraf's rule. But it is a good moment to judge it.

“Many of the general's prescriptions have been excellent. In the management of the economy he has trusted sensible technocrats, including Mr Aziz. They have been blessed with an inheritance of liberal reforms and, above all, by booming capital inflows, not only from America. Yet they can take credit for strong economic growth, predicted to be seven per cent this year.

“In foreign relations, too, right-minded policies have borne fruit. In the past three years Pakistan's relations with India have been transformed from semi-war to almost-peace. A final settlement of the two countries' problems, and above all, the divided region of Kashmir, remains elusive; the rivals' demands are simply incompatible. Yet General Musharraf has perhaps done more than any leader in either country to nudge them into line.”

http://dawn.com.pk/weekly/cowas/cowas.htm

[mtgondal]

The maintenance of public disorder

By Ardeshir Cowasjee

ON August 11, 1947, prior to the birth of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah firmly informed the members of his Constituent Assembly that their first duty, in the country he had created, was to enforce law and order.

The stress was laid on good law, not law amendable to suit the needs and ends of the transient occupiers of our seats of power. We did have law and order, to a certain extent, for the first two decades of our existence. Then, suddenly, it faded away, never to return.

On May 26, Imran Khan was sent an Order emanating from the Government of Punjab, Home Department, under the name of Khusro Pervaiz Khan, Secretary of the Home Department, but without his signature. The Order reads :

“Whereas there is credible information that Mr Imran Khan, Chief of Tehreek-e-Insaaf, Pakistan, r/o Lahore is planning to leave for the Province of Sindh on 27.5.2007 by Flight No.PK-315 and whereas the Government of the Punjab has received an order from the Government of Sindh through which the entry of Imran Khan has been banned for a period of 30 days.

“Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred upon me under Section 5(1)(b) [‘Power to control suspected persons’] of the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance 1960, Mr Imran Khan, Chief of Tehreek-i-Insaaf, Pakistan, r/o Lahore shall reside or remain within the revenue limits of Lahore. This order shall remain in force for 03 days with immediate effect.

“The grounds for restrainment will be conveyed in due course of time.

“He is at liberty to make a representation to the government against this order.”

Copies were sent to eight other officials, among them “The SSP (Operations), Lahore, with the request that the restriction order may be served on Mr Imran Khan. This order may also be brought to the notice of the Civil Aviation Authority.”

This was in response to a letter sent by Shafi Uddin, Section Officer (Staff), for Home Secretary Sindh, of the Government of Sindh, Home Department, also dated May 26, 2007, addressed to The Secretary, Home Department, Government of the Punjab and to The Chief Commissioner, Islamabad. The subject : “Service of Orders upon Mr Imran Khan. Its content : “I am directed to enclose herewith copies of Order issued under Section 5(1)(a) & (c) of the West Pakistan Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance 1960 in respect of Mr Imran Khan. It is requested to kindly serve these orders upon Mr Imran Khan.”

The Order reads : “Whereas the Government of Sindh is satisfied that with a view to preventing Imran Khan, Chief of Tehreek-i-Insaaf, Pakistan, resident of Lahore, from acting in a manner prejudicial to public safety and maintenance of public order in the province of Sindh.

“And whereas it has been made to appear to me through reliable sources that Imran Khan intends to visit Karachi with a view to indulging in such activity which could be prejudicial to peace and tranquility of the province which is returning to normal after the tragic events of May 12, 2007, in that Mr Imran Khan reportedly intends to make objectionable and provocative speeches/statements which could possibly ignite hatred among different sections of society as is evident from the statements which have appeared in electronic and print media, such activities would be highly prejudicial to public safety and warrants immediate legal action with a view to maintaining peace in the province of Sindh.

“Now, therefore, I, Brig ® Ghulam Muhammad Mohtarem, Secretary, Home Department, Government of Sindh, Karachi, in exercise of the powers vested in me under Section 5(1)(a) & (c) of the West Pakistan Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960, do hereby order that Imran Khan shall not enter, reside or remain in the province of Sindh for a period of thirty (30) days commencing from 26.5.2007, to 23.6.2007.

“He is at liberty too prefer (to) appeal to the Government of Sindh against this order.”

This was typed under the “Secretary to Govt. of Sindh, Home Department” but was also unsigned.

(Obvious anomalies in all this : the grounds for restrainment have yet to be spelt out. What does the restrained man tell the court if he can get to it? He may be at liberty to make a representation to the government against the order, but then he is appealing to the power which has trampled on his fundamental rights.)

Now, from reading all this it becomes crystal clear that the administration and the police were not at all worried about Imran inciting violence. What they were concerned with is their helplessness in the face of the coalition partner in the Sindh government whose leader, Altaf Hussain, a proud Briton, sits at the end of a telephone line in a building on Edgware High Street in the Borough of Barnet in far away London Town. It was the fear of the violence which would be let loose by the party people of the Pir of London were Imran to come to Karachi and hold a public meeting. After all, the strength of Imran’s Tehreek can in no way be compared to that of the coalition partner.

It is a good order, for had Imran come to this city, in which there is but a thin veneer above the violence that is always latent, chances are that he would have been shot and killed along with a good number of his followers. Happily for Imran, the frightened officials of this province refused to gamble with his life – for there is no way in which they could have protected him. They would have been given ‘orders’ as they were on May 12.

It should be a matter of shame to us all that we now find ourselves as citizens of a country in which the federal government and the head of state are so in thrall to a political party of highly dubious credentials which harbours known practioners of violence that they are unable to protect individuals from being killed or maimed and cities from descending into uncontrollable mayhem.

As for President General Pervez Musharraf, the kindest one can say about him is that having been ordered by the Supreme Court to hold elections, he did so and then found himself with no alternatives but to appoint criminals, crooks, incompetents and yahoos into positions of power and to align himself with political parties and political individuals who should have either been behind bars or banished from our shores.

The Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance 1960 has been used and re-used over the years to get our governments out of sticky situations or to harass and intimidate citizens or to deal with them in a manner unlawful.

This morning, at dawn, all going well, Imran Khan will have landed in England, a relatively safe haven. He will be allowed to petition a court of law, or approach the Secretary for Home Affairs, and ask how and why the United Kingdom is harbouring Altaf Hussain. He has travelled with the consent and approval of our spooks, aka ‘the agencies’.

Another brave man, Nasirullah Babar, former general of our gallant army and former federal minister for interior, has provided Imran with all the ammunition he needs. Good luck to them both.

arfc@cyber.net.pk

[mtgondal]

Karachi – numero uno

By Ardeshir Cowasjee

Sunday,JUNE 10, 2007

UNFORTUNATE it is that President General Pervez Musharraf has chosen to surround himself with Neanderthal men. His Gag-man (if he reads this) should know that there abound in Pakistan men who can get any gagged message or movie onto his PC one night and then onto a thousand other PC screens by dawn the following day. How unfortunate and luckless can the citizens of Pakistan be that they are so mocked by those put in positions of power.

Last week there came into my mail box a highly depressing message which concerns all of us who live in Karachi. Excerpts warrant reproduction, just in case they awaken our so-called ‘leaders’ into whose hands our government has been delivered, and our administrators who must follow, but who at least can be made aware of what is what and can voice their objections.

It came from Engineer Zulfikar Sarosh currently residing in Austin, Texas :

“I am a member of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers), the largest professional body of electrical engineers. It was after reading an article in ‘Spectrum’, the flagship publication of IEEE that I decided to write to you.

“This month (June 2007) ‘Spectrum’ did a special report on mega-cities. Karachi was named twice in that report, both times in a negative light. Since you are one of the few people who take up the real issues (non-political) regarding Karachi, I decided to share this information with you.

“First of all, Karachi has the ‘honour’ of being the most polluted city in the world. In the words of ‘Spectrum’, ‘Air Pollution : Particulate matter smaller than 10 micrometers in diameter (pm10) is the most dangerous to human health, because it can pass through the nose and throat and enter the lungs — leading to asthma, lung cancer, cardiovascular problems, and premature death. Of the mega-cities, Karachi, Pakistan, had by far the worst pm10 problem in 1999, the last year for which complete data were available. New York City had the cleanest air.’

“If it is any consolation, Karachi was followed by Delhi, Cairo and Dhaka. But they were far behind Karachi. As you may note, this was the data from 1999. I am sure by now the situation must have grown far more serious. I beg you to please write about this issue. I have spent the best years of my life in Karachi and my parents and parents-in-law and most of my family live there, so I have a deep emotional attachment to the city. This is a very serious issue, as it concerns the health and indeed the very lives of Karachiites.

“The report is available on the internet : http://spectrum.ieee.org/ jun07/5148/3 To see the GDP for mega-cities check out : http://spectrum.ieee.org/jun07/5148 (Karachi is third from the bottom).

“One graph which showed the slum populations is not available online, but was in the print copy and showed Pakistan as having the fifth largest slum population, way behind China and India in numbers. But it also showed that 74 per pent of urban dwellers in Pakistan live in slums (as opposed to 56 per cent in India and 38 per cent in China).

“Another shameful fact appeared in The National Geographic magazine, where, writing about Dharvi, a slum in Mumbai, this is what the author said: ‘In Asia, Karachi's Orangi Township has surpassed Dharvi [as being the largest slum in Asia] ....

“So Karachi has two crowns to wear – one being the most polluted mega-city in the world and second the host of the largest slum in Asia.....bravo Karachi!

“Don’t forget to don a mask as you go out. You live in the most polluted city. And also don’t forget the bullet proof vest...I am sure it is also the most unsafe city as well.”Now, this being the current state of our city, and with the pm10 problem having surely magnified alarmingly over the space of eight years what can possibly be the justification for the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) to have given its clearance, on June 6, to the City District Government to construct the 25-kilometer long Karachi Elevated Expressway (KEE) which has been rejected by many experts (genuine this time) on the grounds that it is highly environmentally damaging? The sole justification one can think of is that it is another money-making machine, money being the magic that makes our government go round and which is always needed by its honourable members both here and, of course, far off in fair London town.

Karachi’s proposed ‘road-on-stilts’, running from Jinnah Bridge to Quaidabad, which I have previously discussed, has been given a go-ahead by SEPA on the basis of ‘do good, and avoid evil’. But does this city need, and can it sustain, an elevated expressway? Architects, engineers, planners and advocacy groups think not. Environmental, aesthetic, technical and procedural flaws that have been identified go against it.

A cardinal principle for reducing congestion on roads and mitigating adverse traffic impact is that new roads should only be built after all reasonable alternatives for minimising the use of single-occupancy vehicles, that is, cars, have been exhausted. Consequently, the first priority of the city government must be to implement an affordable, comprehensive, and environment-friendly mass transport system in Karachi which will radically reduce the proliferation of polluting, gas-guzzling, noisy, traffic-congesting vehicles that are coming out onto our roads in their hundreds each day, thanks to our banks and their need to make money out of upwardly mobile unwary citizens.

The second priority, which will benefit not only the expressway corridor but the entire city, would be to ensure traffic law compliance/discipline and the removal of road friction (illegal parking, encroachments, etc) on existing thoroughfares. These principles have also been the findings of this week’s stakeholder workshops organised in Karachi by the Asian Development Bank to examine its ‘Transport Sector Roadmap’ for the Karachi Mega City Sustainable Development Project.

The expressway has been dangerously designed without emergency lanes/shoulders. While the Malaysian Highway Authority mandates that “All expressways must have at least four lanes (two in each direction) segregated by a median divider. Both sides must have an emergency lane”, the contractors, IJM Berhad from Malaysia (who chose them and how?), propose to provide the citizens of Karachi less than the minimum facilities which are mandatory in their own country.

Since the city does not have an overall traffic/transport management plan, isolated projects like the expressway are merely a means of putting public money into private pockets. The questionable contract-award procedure, the lack of transparent details of the ‘annuity-basis’ BOT contract, the availability of a superior alternatives (rail for one) for inter-port and upcountry traffic, the increased noise and air pollution, and many other factors would make the project a non-starter in a civilised, clean and sane society.

The Director-General of SEPA, responding to questions put to him by architects, engineers and environmentalists at a public hearing in April informed them that the city government had formed a committee of ‘experts’ to evaluate all reservations and assured the doubters that problems would be addressed and resolved. Have they been?

The city government’s project director of the KEE is Canadian citizen Rauf Akhtar Farooqui, an OSD (officer on special duty), a great favourite of the Pir of London and his appointed Karachi City Nazim, young Mustafa Kamal who has a Malaysian connection. According to Project Director Farooqui, while discoursing on another ‘development’ project, there is no need for such “time-consuming exercises” as environmental impact assessments, when the aim is “rapid development.” This says it all.

Long may we live, healthily – breathing polluted air.

arfc@cyber.net.pk


http://www.dawn.com/weekly/cowas/cowas.htm

[Wounded Healer]

Whither Karachi?




By Ardeshir Cowasjee

WE are all acutely aware that when the government of Sindh and its administration (or for that matter any government and administration of Pakistan) wishes to actually do something – naturally not for the good of the people but to achieve their own ends via their own means – they can do it, and do it rather effectively.

For instance, they can purposefully reduce the traffic-handling capacity of Sharea Faisal, a main artery of this city, to virtually zero. They did so this past May 12 when the gun-toting members of a local party with fascistic tendencies blocked it and its connecting feeder roads with water tankers, containers and whatever else came handy. They mounted gun-turrets on over-passes and pedestrian bridges and indulged in target practice. The Chief Justice of Pakistan and his legal entourage could not get out of Jinnah Airport and no one, welcoming rallies or individuals, could get on to Sharea Faisal to get anywhere. Even ambulances carrying the dead and wounded found it impossible to pass through the blockades – as would have been the case with fire engines.

Unless the City District Government, Karachi, (CDGK) develops some sort of will to do right by this city, and drastically reduces its obligations to London Town, the traffic handling capacities of most of the main roads may soon be reduced to just above zero. This need not happen if the roads are put to proper use, and if relevant laws, rules and regulations are stringently enforced.

This is a message that the citizens of Karachi have been trying, over the past year or so, to convey to young road-digger (gold-digger?) and City Nazim, Syed Mustafa Kamal. It has been suggested to him on numerous occasions that unless he takes concrete steps to enforce traffic discipline, to implement the driving rules, and to remove road friction (such as illegal parking, loading and unloading of vehicles, encroachments, thelas, khokas, jaywalkers), we are opting for disaster in not so distant a future. If he were to enforce all the laws that exist on the statute book, vehicles on roads such as Sharea Faisal would swing along like lightning. The traffic-handling capacity of all our thoroughfares, bad and reasonably good, would increase substantially.

What this government and administration do not wish to understand is the internationally acknowledged elementary principle of road planning (to repeat myself) : that new roads should only be built after all reasonable alternatives for minimising the use of single-occupancy vehicles, that is, cars, have been exhausted. The CDGK is blatantly disregarding this maxim in the rush to construct the lucrative Karachi Elevated Expressway (with its Malaysian connections) over Sharea Faisal, Club Road and M.T. Khan Road. They are ignoring the priority alternative of a proper, affordable public transport system.

Last year, the Karachi Mass Transit Cell (KMTC) of the CDGK, in collaboration with PCI International (Thailand) and Engineering Associates, published a report entitled ‘Private/Public Partnership-based Environmentally-friendly Public Transport System for Karachi.’ The introduction tells us that:

“The context of this study is the deteriorating situation of public transport in Karachi which includes, primarily, the bus system. The worsening situation and the stalled improvement schemes have led the Government of Pakistan [through the Planning and Development Division in collaboration with the Government of Sindh and the CDGK] to [institute] this study for the development of a bus development plan with a view to introduce approximately 8,000 new environmentally-friendly buses for Karachi. . . .

“Karachi has a history of transport planning projects that have never been implemented [for] a variety of factors; some financial and some political. The present problems at hand are so critical that the ‘do-nothing option’ is no longer an option.”

The KMTC report has emphasised that an all-Karachi policy-making Urban Transit Authority is needed “to coordinate all aspects of urban transit into a unified policy and budget framework to create a total ‘system-based’ passenger transport function.”

Governments and administrations of Pakistan are rather good at commissioning pricey studies and reports, but never have the political will, or perhaps the organisational ability, to implement any sound recommendations. Karachi’s transport system has been in a mess since the late 1970s. Previous inquiries into how to solve the problems include the 1982 Transport Commission Report, the 1983 Karachi Bus Owners' Association Report, the 1989 Karachi Development Authority Road Accident Costs Report, the 1990 KDA Mass Transit Study, the 1991 Draft Pakistan Transport Policy, the 1994 KDA Implementation Programme Report, and the 1999 SMEDA National Transport Strategy.

None of these papers have been acted upon; they just lie rotting in the archives. This is ridiculous. Enough studies have been made which, if even half implemented, would have gone a long way to see that we are not in the horrible mess in which we and our roads find ourselves today.

The population explosion pressure and the escalating transport problems all point to a mass transport system as the solution. Over the past decade, two half-hearted partial attempts were made by the city government to address this issue in collaboration with the private sector – the 1997 private NGO's Karachi Public Transport Society (KPTS) which included Swede CNG Bus and Metro Cab, and the 2002 CDGK's Urban Transport Scheme (UTS) which included Green CNG Bus and Airport Limousine. UTS eventually took over the KTPS survivors.The UTS operators blamed the increasing failure of the scheme on numerous factors: rising fuel costs, competition with non-UTS operators, illegal route operations, non-availability of depots and of promised subsidies, substandard spare parts and service, police harassment, absence of law and order, frequent VVIP (creatures that blight our lives) movement.

It is not difficult to see why the political heavyweights and the powers that run this city seem to be unable to muster the will to implement the recommendations of the KMTC Public Transport System plan, but have no qualms when it comes to the construction of mega-projects such as underpasses, overpasses and elevated expressways.

To move to other municipal matters: today Karachi is beset with power riots, with citizens experiencing up to twelve hours a day of breakdowns and load-shedding. How can any enterprise run properly when some 38 per cent of its product is stolen by consumers? The Karachi Electric Supply Corporation, with a turnover of Rs. 45 billion a year, has over one third of its generated energy illegally channeled through ‘kundas’ and tampered or bypassed meters – a haemorrhage that the newly-appointed CEO, Lt General Syed Mohammad Amjad, euphemistically termed “non-technical losses” (why?) at a recent public hearing. Imagine what relief could have been provided over the past decade had Rs.17 billion per year not been eaten away by thieves. But political patronage and corruption are the reasons that theft cannot be stopped, and so the paying customers suffer.

And then there is the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board which has also just had a change of guard at the top. After being run by technically-qualified serving brigadiers for the past many years, veteran non-technical civil servant Ghulam Arif (whose reputation precedes him) has taken over. With him have come two new non-technical Additional Vice-Chairmen, Imamuddin Shehzad and Moin Khan, both Karachi MQM MPAs. These people-friendly MPAs have spent large sums in refurbishing their offices and have two government cars each at their disposal. This largesse comes out of the budget of the bankrupt Board which supplies water worth Rs.12 billion annually but collects only two billion rupees in water and sewerage charges from residents, industries, commercial consumers, civil and military institutions, its annual expenditure of five billion rupees being subsidised by the taxpayers.

The ‘do-nothing option’ is indeed no longer an option – not only in the case of our roads and transport but in all issues pertaining to our lives in this city rated as the most polluted in the world. What we citizens, and our government and administrators, need to ask is: where does Karachi want to go? Down the proverbial drain?

But President General Pervez Musharraf has given orders that we should not spread depressing news. So, our aim must be to have in our province a non-corrupt non-fascistic government.

arfc@cyber.net.pk

[Wounded Healer]

Gagging the media




By Ardeshir Cowasjee

ON the third anniversary of the death of Zamir Niazi, as recounted on this page on June 19 by Dr Tariq Rahman, his friends and family met to remember him. There is not much that one can add to what has already been written about Zamir – the sole detailed and accurate chronicler of the sorry history of the press in Pakistan and the assaults by every government, during his lifetime, on its freedom.

His first book, 'Press in Chains', was published in 1986, during the repressive Ziaul Haq era during which journalists who transgressed the imposed laws were flogged. In this book, Zamir tells the full story of the first major governmental attack on the press. This was the taking over by the government of President General Ayub Khan of Progressive Papers Limited, the group owned by Mian Iftikharuddin, amongst the publications of which was the highly respected and outspoken Pakistan Times.

On April 18 1959, early in the morning, Ayub’s minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, arrived at the house of Mazhar Ali Khan, the Pakistan Times editor, to advise him that two days previously an amendment had been made in the Security Act and under this amendment all PPL papers had been taken over by the government. The PPL offices had been surrounded just after midnight and appropriated, Mian Iftikharuddin’s house had been searched and all relevant material removed. The Pakistan Times lived on thereafter for unmemorable years, fully muzzled by the government, until it died, discredited and unmourned.

After the PPL takeover came the promulgation of the Press and Publications Ordinance of 1960 on April 26, 1960. This PPO was the darkest of the dark press laws we have so far had the misfortune to suffer. It was the brain-child of unprincipled ambitious minds, of devious and powerful civil servants, Qudrutullah Shahab and Altaf Gauhar. And two government ministers who actively encouraged the general were liberal Manzoor Qadir and democrat Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. All of them have denied their involvement.

The PPO lived and thrived for 28 years until in 1988, Presdent Ghulam Ishaq Khan appointed as his information minister friend Ilahi Baksh Soomro who was helped by a ruling of the Shariat Court and managed to nullify many of the nasty effects of this shameful ordinance.

There is little that is new under the Pakistani sun. Most governments have attempted to demolish the judiciary and some have succeeded. What they have inevitably done next is to turn their malicious eye on the press.

Things by and large were chugging along fairly smoothly in the Republic, with a few of the normal political, social, ethnic and sectarian upheavals, until suddenly this March President General Pervez Musharraf, either in a fit of madness or on the advice of sycophantic scoundrels, undertook his assault on the judiciary, via the person of the Chief Justice of Pakistan. In this day and age, this was a foolish thing to do and, of course, it has had, and will have, repercussions not easy to handle by the largely inept and corrupt political crew hired by the general.

Having been praised time and again, and rightly so, for being the head of state and government to allow the maximum freedom ever allowed to the press, and having allowed and encouraged the electronic media to multiply and flourish, he should have known that the affair of the Chief Justice would receive full coverage – particularly as someone on his staff had been so stupid as to invite into the camp office the PTV cameras on the morning of March 9 when Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry came calling on him at his, the CJ’s, request.

The subsequent actions were fully reported, the lawyers’ protests aired all day, the Chief Justice’s travels to Lahore aired day and night by all the private news channels, and then came May 12 in Karachi, again the affair of the Chief Justice. Blood was amply shed, mayhem and disorder reigned, the whole nation was witness to what had happened in Karachi that day and later, most shamefully, in Islamabad that night. Again, either in a fit of madness, or on ‘advice’ from his dangerous advisers, the president general decided (as all his predecessors have done) to act against the press freedom he had so wisely accorded.

This day will be remembered in Pakistan as the most recent Day of Infamy. Fifty lives were lost and some two hundred injured. Those responsible were three – the president general who never tires of preaching enlightenment and moderation and who rightly wages war against terror, his coalition partner, the Pir of London Town, and the man directly responsible for the safety of our lives and properties, the Chief Justice of Pakistan. The latter was besieged at the Karachi airport, surrounded by his impresarios among who shines his Cambridge Chaudhry chauffeur.

As soon as the CJP heard the news of the killing of the first citizen could he not have announced : “I do not wish people to die for me. I am cancelling my visit. Fly me back to Islamabad.”? What were our ‘leaders’ and protectors trying to establish – that in Pakistan brawn rules over brain?

The first shot fired from the government canon came on June 2, when the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) addressed a letter to the managements of the private television channels informing them that the decision had been taken to ban any TV coverage of any events related to the affair of the Chief Justice. They were directed not to air any programme that “is likely to encourage violence or contains anything against [the] maintenance of law and order or which promotes anti-national and anti-state attitude.”

Also not to be aired is “anything which amounts to contempt of court” or “contains aspersions [on] the judiciary and integrity of the armed forces of Pakistan . . . .”. Non-implementation of the ‘directives’ would invoke legal action under the Pemra ordinance of 2002.

Then, on June 4 came a veritable volley – the Pemra (Amendment) Ordinance, issued two days prior to a National Assembly session (a coincidence?), which authorises Pemra to take action against television channels violating the rules. Inter alia, it is authorised to confiscate the equipment of any broadcasting channel and to seal its premises. It may also suspend the licenses of TV channels and violators of the rules are to be fined Rs.10 million.

Pemra is authorised to make any new rules it may deem fit. As reported in this newspaper, “The ordinance revokes many of the major provisions of a law passed by parliament three months ago after a two-year debate and consultations with the stakeholders.”

The excuse given by the general for this move against a media which he had freed was that in airing the events of May 12 in Karachi the media had transgressed accepted norms of decency by showing dead bodies, some headless or limbless, dying people, wounded people, and a large amount of blood and gore. He rightly stated that the electronic media in democratic lands of this world avoid bloodshed and scenes of death.

This may be so, but the main reason for clamping down on the media is to shut out the day-and- night-long scenes of the various ‘caravans’ paraded around the country in support of the Chief Justice and his lawyer supporters. Shots of thousands of members of the beloved awam flocking to greet and meet the Chief Justice were not appreciated, as were not the shots of him being showered with rose petals by his black-coated ‘mock hunger-striking’ friends.

The ordinance, signed by General Musharraf, states that all action that can be taken by Pemra is required “for the reason of necessity in the public interest.” Now, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has defined the public interest “as the general welfare of the public that warrants recognition and protection – something in which the public as a whole has a stake.” It would seem ironic that the apparent need to control acts of violence committed by the government itself should be subject to any sort of censure in this day and age.

The ordinance has to be approved by the National Assembly within four months, failing which it stands as lapsed.

It is to be hoped that President General Musharraf will heed history and not allow himself to be wrongly led by his ministers, advisers and bureaucracy and accept that the press should retain the same freedoms that it had prior to June 2 2007, and by his own hand repeal in its entirety the amendments made by the promulgation of this new ordinance.

He should realise that in this 21st century, with the electronic media being what it is, power vests not only in the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, but also in the media, though anyone reading the document that passes for our Constitution will find no reference to the institution of the press and the electronic media. As with the other three institutions, the media should be independent and strong as without it an effective check on those three cannot be ensured.

arfc@cyber.net.pk

[Wounded Healer]

The national mindset




By Ardeshir Cowasjee

MANY of the e-mail messages I receive in response to my columns ask questions about the strange behaviour of those put in positions of power and leadership.

I am normally stumped and can only reply that after 60 years of living in Pakistan, the Pakistani mindset continues to elude any comprehension.

For example, one e-mail exchange of last week :

Sunday, June 24 : Sir, you rightly criticised the CJP's May 12 visit to Karachi. Why did he not use a little bit of common sense — avowedly a rare commodity these days? Had he done so the Karachi carnage could have been avoided. But, hats off to the CJP team, which didn’t miss the chance of watching the warm welcome next day on TV — no matter if it cost lives and left widows and orphans.

My reply on Monday, June 25: I am afraid I will have to live through life without understanding the workings of a Pakistani Muslim mind. My loss!Response received on Tuesday, June 26: It is very easy to decipher a Pakistani Muslim mind. Basically it’s a part-time mind. A staccato fit of thinking drives Muslims nowadays. The rest is just hypocrisy, obscurantism and loud talking about past Muslim achievements. I am born in a Muslim family — well, quite liberal — but I don’t have answers to a lot of questions. And the irony is that nobody is willing to answer them. So at present I am a low profile secular — at least not moderate and enlightened.

But I now have various clues, after a visit paid last week to Professor Adib Rizvi’s Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) and to its Centre of Biomedical Ethics and Culture (if you don’t know what this means e-mail bioethics@siut.org) efficiently headed by Professor Dr Farhat Moazzam, where I was handed a copy of that department’s publication — Volume 3, Issue 1 of May 2007. The lead article is written by Professor Doctor Manzoor Ahmed, Rector of the International Islamic University, Islamabad, entitled ‘Reflections on our Mindset.’ Light has dawned, thanks to the good Rector.

He generously puts down the problems confronted by Pakistani society partly to our participation in the global ambience and partly to “our own cultural underpinnings.” He deplores the fact that from a relatively benign and less offensive society of half a century ago, our hallmark now is the “decreasing tolerance level, increasing aggression and violence, the dulling of moral sensitivity and brash dogmatism . . . .”. He rightly says that “There is also a tragic change in the attitudes and mental make-up, especially of those whose basic function was to serve as the conscience of our society, i.e. the upholders of religion.” There is, he says quite aptly, something wrong with the learning behaviour of today’s youth.

Whence has fled moral outrage? he asks. There is none when it comes to gang rape, karo kari and honour killings — but there is when it comes to the levy of bank interest. Where is our moral sense? Members of the Senate, some years ago, supposedly enlightened and educated, refused to vote for a resolution condemning the honour killing of a young girl in broad daylight and with the connivance of the mother.

It is important, says Rector Ahmed, to analyse the Muslim mind to understand why it is becoming increasingly myopic. “Let me borrow the paradigm from Erich Fromm. His analysis of European acceptance of dictatorships in terms of an escape from responsibilities is a plausible psychological explanation. This partly applies to any mental make-up which accepts authoritarian roles of any kind. In addition to this general pervasive principle, there are additional factors working in the mental make-up of the Muslims, one of which is the crisis of identity and a subconscious dread of disintegration.”

Fair enough — from the very outset Pakistan, whether masquerading as a democracy or under outright military leadership — has leant towards authoritarianism. It has always had a one man (or one woman) rule — never of a political party or even a junta. The individual who wields the ‘danda’ has always been supreme until overtaken by another ‘danda’ wielder.

The Rector goes back to history, to the first 40 years of Muslim history, marked by wars and conflict. Stability was achieved only when a form of monarchy was established and the Muslim state transformed into an imperial power. Authoritarianism put its foot firmly down. Society accepted and acquiesced not only in political authority of the monarchs but also developed their structure of knowledge primarily on that basis, and thus developed Muslim dogma.

“In Pakistan, this same dogma now provides the given major premise which cannot be challenged and cannot be understood differently from what it apparently meant to the early people, and conclusions can only be deduced from discovering analogous situations. My understanding of this is that apparently what was good in the 7th century remains good in the 21st century — the Muslim mind of Pakistan is unready to face the world as it is and unwilling to update itself.

“Under this paradigm, it is easy to see what happens to the whole structure of knowledge. In the field of morality nothing can be good or bad sui generic; it becomes good or bad by fiat, by declaring it to be good or bad as coming from God . . . . . . Law making also remains dependent on this logic; laws can only be deduced from what is given and nothing new can be entertained which is not already subsumed in the given premises, i.e. Quran and Sunnah. Both morality and law are thus seen to be based on an irrefutable given proposition, and rejection of this logic is seen as tantamount to heresy.

Naturally, this paradigm of knowledge was, and still is, very conducive to political authority. Thus the whole society was constructed on the ‘command-obedience’ framework and free play of mind was considered to be a disintegrating factor.”

There seems little hope, after reading this. But then things get worse and veritable hopelessness sets in. The Muslims of the world of the 17th century refused to appreciate the significance of the European Renaissance. They “closed their minds totally and remained mired in the paradigm they had developed earlier.

This was based on an abounding fear that they would lose their identity if they accepted the conceptual structures of the West. From amongst all the major religions of the world, both of the East and the West, it is only the Muslim religion which has largely remained as it was five hundred years ago in its moral, legal and social precepts. This is the mind we encounter today. It is a closed mind and though seemingly Muslims know the language of modern thought, it does not mean the same for them. This is a form of mental block . . . to unravel the working of a closed mind and to suggest ways and means of opening it is a multifaceted task.

Inputs have to come from sociology, psychology, philosophy and religion for working out a reasonable criteria and norms for developing a balanced mind. Social policies of Pakistan have to be redesigned accordingly. It is a tremendous task but I should think that it is worth our while that we begin talking about it so that one day we may start reversing the mental decay that has set in society.”

Try explaining all this to the two clerical brothers of the Lal Masjid up in Islamabad, or to the girls swathed in black from the seminary next door and they will probably either issue a fatwa or launch a suicide bomber. The same applies to the thousands of madressahs of this land, to the illiterate, to the semi-educated and even to the educated whose minds remain firmly shut against logic, common sense and progress.

One must assume that the International Islamic University of Islamabad, with its good Rector Ahmed, has started the process of attempting to reverse the mental decay and usher the youth within its portals into the 21st century. But this is not enough. It will have to happen in every single educational institution — from primary school to university — and in every madressah which will be problematical as there is little likelihood that the clerical fraternity will undertake a lightning reform of their mindset.

It is suggested that the non-‘fatwa-foisters’ get to know more about what this learned Islamic scholar has to say by e-mailing him at mnz@uit.edu.

To give the devil his due, our present head of state and government, President General Pervez Musharraf, at the risk of his life, has tried to preach tolerance, or ‘enlightened moderation’ as he calls it. He needs the people’s help.

arfc@cyber.bet.pk

[mtgondal]

If only Musharraf were Canute

By Ardeshir Cowasjee

Sunday,July 08,2007

KNUT DEN MAKTIGE, King of England, Denmark and Norway, commonly known as Canute the Great of England (1016-1035) was surrounded by sycophantic courtiers who never failed to flatter him. You are the greatest man in the world, one would tell him. Another, there is nothing you cannot do. And another, you are the monarch of all.

A sensible man, Canute, he soon grew tired of this insane flattery and decided one fine day to put an end to it. Walking by the seashore, with the chatterers trotting out their usual praise, he asked them if it were their contention that all things obey him. Absolutely, they toadied in unison. ‘Right,’ said the king, `bring me a chair, and put it close to the sea, right at the water’s edge.’ He sat down. ‘The tide is coming in,’ he said. ‘Will it stop if I command it to so do?’ The flatterers dare not say no. ‘Give the order, they said, ‘and the sea will obey.’

‘Right,’ said Canute. ‘Oh mighty waves, stop your rolling. Come no closer’, he cried. The waves advanced and lapped his feet. Again, he commanded that it stop. In answer another wave swept forward, and another, and another until he was almost knee deep in water.

He turned to his foolish courtiers. `It seems that I am not as powerful as you think,’ he told to them, smiling. `Perhaps now you have learned something and perhaps you will now reserve your flattery and praise for the one who is all powerful and rules all, the seas included.’

This little story used to be taught to young children in schools when they were first introduced to history, so that from an early age they would learn to beware of false flattery. It seems that President General Pervez Musharraf missed out on this one.The General, no fundo he, can take on the Taliban if he wishes to so do, and the same with the bigots and unenlightened. Reason having finally failed, logic and reasoning being no match for fanaticism, he has at last taken on the mullahs of the Lal Masjid.

What he seemingly does not realise, his sycophantic supporters having got the better of him, is that statements made recklessly can do much harm. He cannot fight nature, he should not try to fight the environment. The present floods are merely forerunners of things to come.

A few months ago, while inaugurating Bagh-e-Ibn-e-Qasim (Jehangir Hormuzjee Kothari’s Clifton reborn!) the general was critical of environmentalists. He stated: “If we cut the trees, we will plant double the number and we will plant better trees”. Perhaps he did not realise that during his tenure, Pakistan has lost a further 15 per cent of its forest cover.

Way back in 2004, while performing one of those ubiquitous ‘ground-breaking’ ceremonies, this time of the Karachi DHA Cogeneration Plant, he lavished mush praise on the “visionary plan” of the waterfront developments being undertaken by the DHA. According to a report in the DHA Newsletter of August that year, he directed that issues impeding development be swept away. “He further emphasised that all incentives and facilitation should be provided to developers so that favourable investment climate within the country is utilised by foreign investors. He especially emphasised that `paralysis through analysis’ be countered.

Now, did he know that this desalination plant located on the sea shore of DHA Phase 8, had not been granted the mandatory Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) clearance? Undoubtedly not, as his acolytes would have been silent on the subject. Disaster is anticipated.

Writing in the press on June 28, Isa Daudpota, an Islamabad physicist with an interest in environmental issues states: “EIA compares the various alternatives for the project and seeks to identify the one which represents the best combination of economic and environmental costs and benefits. It proposes measures to mitigate immediate and projected adverse environmental effects of projects. By considering the environmental effects early in the project planning cycle, there is an optimal use of resources and saving of time and cost. Moreover, properly conducted EIA lessens conflicts through promoting community participation.

“In an 80-page World Bank report of Aug 2006 entitled `Pakistan Strategic Country Environmental Assessment’ (available on the internet) the current state of the environmental oversight has been assessed and recommendations have been provided for improvement. The World Bank report focuses on the concerns in the context of growth and urbanisation. The measured tone of the report does not hide the very serious environmental problems that this country faces. The most devastating statistics is that environmental degradation is equivalent to six per cent of our GDP, or approximately Rs. 365 billion per year. Given that GDP growth per capita in 2005 was 5.2 per cent, this is wiped out by the environmental damage we are causing ourselves”.

Senator Nisar Memon, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Defence and Defence Production, presented to the Senate, this past June 16, a ‘Report on Pollution in Karachi Harbour and areas around PAF bases at Karachi’.

The Navy has complained that a 30 per cent reduction in the life of their warships is anticipated because of accelerated corrosion, costing some US one billion dollar over their lifetime. This is caused by 400 million gallons per day of untreated raw sewage that pours into the sea from rivers and nallahs, rendering the harbour a basin of chemicals.

The Air Force has complained that they have lost 12 fighter planes over the past year and a half, each costing between US $ 10 and 25 million, because of accidents with birds in the take-off and landing flight paths. The proliferation of scavenging birds around Faisal and Masroor bases is generated by heaps of uncollected garbage and industrial waste.

The Standing Committee found that environment protection laws were plenty, but enforcement was practically non-existent, especially by the Sindh Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

Then we come to the Karachi Elevated Expressway (KEE). Virtually all members of the ‘committee of experts’ constituted to review the EIA of this pet project of the present Sindh government and administration were handpicked government officials or consultants. Should not 50 per cent of them have been from the objecting private sector?

The NOC issued for the KEE by SEPA has numerous conditions. Many of these were pre-requisites, such as: planning of traffic diversions / alternate routes / detours (in coordination with traffic police) and the adoption of appropriate construction techniques to ensure smooth traffic flow during building; re-planning of the Rashid Minhas Road / Shahrae Faisal intersection; re-planning of the KEE extremities and entry / exit points (especially at Quaidabad); land acquisition difficulties at entry / exist points, increase in height at Club Road; mechanical ventilation system for lower level expressway, sound barriers near residential areas; design of large crossing spans at bridges to avoid puncturing of deck slabs; detailed traffic analyses at intersections comprehensive waste disposal plan; best available practices for the control of noise / vibration during construction; resolution of all social and conflicting issues submitted by objectors; coordination with other civic agencies for relocation of infrastructure, appointment of independent environmental monitoring consultant; etc.

Karachi’s City District Government must be told to submit complete details and designs of how it would comply with these pre-requisites before, repeat before, the SEPA NOC is granted and work started and life disturbed.

Additionally, some form of guarantee must be obtained to ensure that during and post-construction conditions such as the restoration of the median green-belt, the non-disurbance of visitors to hotels / graveyards / protected heritage sites, control of dust emissions, etc. are all met.

As this is being written, news has it that the recently inducted good chief secretary of the province of Sindh, Shakil Durrani, has been shot out by his woolly chief minister, Arbab Rahim. Durrani had opposed the CM’s land deal involving the selling of over 68 acres of prime land at 25 per cent of its market value to a gold merchant – a sale which would have destroyed or degraded the ancient Chowkandi tombs situated nearby Gold! Arbab should read up on King Midas.

Someone, somewhere must do something to stop the mass environmental degradation underway all over the country – from the northernmost tip to the southernmost, and from east to west. General Musharraf being the sole ‘someone’ who counts and who can actually initiate any movement on any front, has to be the man. A digestion of the Canute the Great moral tale might help him in discerning who is advising him to do what and why.

http://www.dawn.com.pk/weekly/cowas/cowas.htm