19.01.2014

Media’s evolution
A growing media and shrinking standards call for ethics and a proper code of conduct
By Syed Irshad

How simple were the gone days when people would raise pigeons to carry messages across towns or to friends and family houses. Imagine about a world where Roman officials used a postman and relay of horses to carry a letter 500 miles in 24 hours. From puckering up to smoke signals, from drum-beating to drawing pictures, from subscription based hand-written news to Gazettes, from print media to electronic media which is now followed by the social media, it is a long story of evolution behind the concept of journalism.

Media is now regarded as a mentor of any society that speaks out against the misuse of power, points out any injustice and guards the right of a common man against any oppressive force in a society. It does not only publish the news but serves as the voice of the general opinion of the people from different classes of a society.

In a civilised society, it is a perfect check on administrations which are less responsible, the judges who are corrupt in their decisions and the law and enforcement agencies which lack in their performance.

I have been reading the local newspapers for the last 15 years and I am witness to many developments that gradually helped the local media to start controlling the course of social and political events. It specially happened during the last ten years when media in Pakistan started growing vigorously as an industry with the boom in electronic media followed by social media. In the past, only the educated sector of our society, while relying on print media, was capable of discussing the current affairs due to absence of electronic media. Majority of the populace either had no interest in political and social affairs or they used to rely on the updates from PTV, which from the day of its inception is convincing its audience to follow the government viewpoint.
In a civilised society, freedom of speech is the right of every one but it should be within reasonable limits of ethics and justice. Our media needs professionalism.

However, the rise of the electronic media and internet offered an easy access to information to almost everyone in the country. Despite all of its lenient and irresponsible behaviour, it immediately became a source of information for our society, where the majority was already suffering from a number of social, political and economic problems. Gradually, it became so powerful that now it is a general perception in our society that that people controlling the press are in reality governing the country.

Today, sensationalism and thrill are the part and parcel of news with malicious propagandas that is against the noble aim of journalism. Unfortunately, most of our anchors and columnists do not render any service to the nation, rather they are more focused on convincing their audience/readers about their own faiths and the situation becomes terrible in the absence of a proper check and balance system. Though they bring us the news, they are often quite biased in their views. The worst part is the fact that a common man, who is completely impressed by these faces after watching them regularly on his television screen, start believing in whatever they say. As a result, this gradual shift from self and critical thinking to blind following has reduced the people’s ability to properly analyse the situation.

Sensational news that play with the emotions of people and selling what a common man wants to buy is not the purpose of journalism. Now it is the high time for Pakistani media to learn on how to perform as a mature, free, independent and productive institution for a country like Pakistan which is in the early stage of democratic development. It should be less commercialised, should follow the standard regulation, ethics and code of conduct. Journalists should be made more professional through capacity building training. The general practice followed by the majority of our media persons to impose whatever their opinion is, should be monitored under a proper code of conduct and regulations. The trend to overlook the thin line between facts and fiction should be stopped.

Freedom of speech is the right of every one but it should be within reasonable limits of ethics and justice. This cannot be a decision made by a few but has to be made by many after threadbare consultations. I’m ending it here by quoting Marina Abramovic, a New York-based performance artist, who once said: “The function of the artist in a disturbed society is to give awareness of the universe, to ask the right questions, and to elevate the mind” and “I think modern technology is one of the worst things human beings have invented.”

26.01.2014

Private versus public debate
Perhaps, its time we spend less time on comparing the relative achievements of public and private schools and more on thinking about how to secure right to education in both letter and spirit
By Irfan Muzaffar

Do private schools produce better learning outcomes than the public schools? Are they more efficient compared with the public schools? How should the policy respond to the growth of private schools? These and similar other questions have been repeatedly raised in the last decade or so — and considerable resources have been spent in answering them.

The result of these efforts, largely supported by large multilateral and bilateral donors, is a public-private debate in the country.

But are the public-private comparisons helping the public to know what they did not know already? Is this debate helping Pakistani state to get all children in school with no cost to parents, as promised in the constitution?

That the private schools are better than public schools is a no-brainer. We have known this all along. Our parents knew this too, which is indeed why they sent us to private schools. And so the parents of those whose education has not prepared them to read these pages. They just did not have enough resources to send their children to private schools.

All parents would like to see their children go to private English medium schools, only if they had the resources to do so.

We have also learnt from research on private schools that there is a growing and dynamic private school market out there. The good things that are supposed to happen under free exchange of goods and services are also happening in this education marketplace. In a competitive environment, the entrepreneurs work hard to improve the quality of their services and reduce the costs. The studies on private schools tell us that this is indeed the case and competition in the education industry is making private schools better and more affordable.
Voucher schemes are limited in scale and largely, if not wholly, unsustainable since they are funded by loans and foreign aid.

We have also learnt that information products about the performance of schools can help them offer better and cheaper services — simply because they know that the potential consumers of their services have comparative data on the products produced by different providers. If you have compared the prices and features of different smart phones to make the right choice when buying your last handset, you will know what I am talking about.

So, in a nutshell, private schools have several market-driven mechanisms that work to improve their quality. We have also learnt that public schools are not as responsive to such stimuli.

We are told that a free market does not seem to need a lot of policy [or governing]. Leave everything to the unfettered transactions between the schools and the parents and the market will balance things out over time through its self-corrective mechanisms. Parents will eventually find the schools they need and can afford. The state’s only job, if there were to be any, would be to establish the right environment for the free exchange of educational services.

Given so much evidence about its efficiency and increasing affordability, who wouldn’t think that a thriving education industry could indeed be the solution to the myriad problems that have vexed our education system for decades?

All of this sounds good when it isn’t. Given what we know about the promise of the affordable private schools, there should be little justification for the state to intervene in education sector, except that it must do so to survive and reproduce itself.

Modern states assert, as did Jinnah in 1947: “You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of the State.” But they would never suggest this to their populations: “You are free; you are free to go to your own schools, you may read anything and everything — that has nothing to do with the business of the State.”

A nation state is not just an economy. More importantly, it is a body politic. Political and social fragmentation is its nemesis and a strong state takes all necessary measures to prevent it from happening. Economy can always be revitalised but political fragmentation is much more difficult to recover from and can potentially destroy the body politic. Who should know this better than the Pakistanis?

Most successive governments in Pakistan have had laissez-faire policies toward private schools. As a consequence of these policies and due to a huge demand for education, the private education industry has registered impressive growth. Yet, if you look at the larger picture, this growth in the number of private schools has taken place in tandem with an equally rapid social and political fragmentation in the society.

I do not claim that private schools are the only cause of this fragmentation. All I am saying is that, if anything, the growth of private schools should be read as a possible symptom of a malignant disease in our society instead of being seen as great success.

While the enthusiasts for private education tirelessly draw the attention of policymakers in Pakistan and abroad to the relatively superior achievements of private school students in science, math, and literacy, they seldom examine the social and political costs of private schooling. Is this not high time for us to take a look at the ways in which students leaving different kinds of unregulated private schools, including madrassahs, are being readily absorbed by various centrifugal movements that are tearing this society apart?

Yet, this possible connection between social fragmentation and the rise of free market remains, at best, an informed guess. There is nothing that I can learn about the social and political consequences of the private school market from the comparative studies of public and private schools. The questions about the social consequences of private education are not even asked, much less answered.

It would have been fine to continue to invest our efforts in comparing public and private schools if we — the state and the civil society — had reached a consensus that state’s role in education did not make much sense and that it was best for the society to help the state withdraw from this sector. If so, it would have been fine to use these comparisons to influence the state to spend public funds to support the development of private education markets. Indeed the big multilateral and bilateral donors are already using these comparative studies to justify their support for education voucher scheme in Punjab, for example.

But we never reached such consensus, at least in our rhetoric. In fact, we did quite the opposite. We supported the 18th Amendment, whose article 25A declared free and compulsory education as an inalienable right. We celebrated the inclusion of this article in the constitution, congratulated each other when this happened, and campaigned for necessary legislation to fulfil the new constitutional obligations.

But while we celebrated 25A in our rhetoric, we abandoned it in practice. Education can never be free and compulsory if it is to be offered in a private sector. We should recognise that 25A was not motivated by charitable intentions but, more importantly, by the stake of state in creating and preserving social cohesion through free and compulsory education.

As long as the logic of using public funds on private educational institutions upheld the constitutional obligations, our support to them would have been consistent with our rhetoric. However, this could only happen if we universalised some sort of a school choice programme where the money was made to follow children in whichever schools they chose to enrol.

But this is not what is promised by the current voucher schemes, which are funded mainly by multilateral and bilateral donors and operated by education foundations across the country. These voucher schemes are limited in scale and largely, if not wholly, unsustainable since they are funded by loans and foreign aid. Such time-bound voucher schemes can, at best, be seen as devices to stimulate a private school market and keeping it in operation for a limited time until the funds dry out. It is not a mechanism to ensure free and compulsory education.

If we want to uphold the constitution, which we must, then I am not sure how and what we are learning from the public-private comparisons is helping the state take the necessary steps to guarantee the RTE (Right to Education). RTE can only be ensured by either completely disinvesting the public sector, universalising the vouchers, and ensuring that all children are enrolled in private schools, or by stopping the use of public funds to jump start the private schools through time bound and unsustainable voucher schemes — and investing wholeheartedly in improving the public schools.

Perhaps, its time we spend less time on comparing the relative achievements of public and private schools and more on thinking about how to secure RTE in both letter and spirit. Only if the intentions, as well as consequences, of producing such comparisons were somehow helpful in getting Pakistani children their right to free and compulsory education, would they make some sense.

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"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

26.01.2014

Need for tough decisions
The indecisive PML-N government is still without an anti-terrorism policy
By Tahir Kamran

“Terrorism in the name of religion or target killing the way it has found ubiquity in Pakistan is virtually an anathema for any developing polity because it brings anarchy, fear and social degradation, which results in economic doom”. This was the assertion of Rana Shafiq Perwaz, a resident of North London and an entrepreneur who deals in fibre optics. Despite being trained as an engineer, he has an incisive sense of the socio-political realities pertaining in Pakistan.

Many a time, he has thought of making some investment in Pakistan but two impediments have dissuaded him — rampant violence and structural hazards at the state level. He found that the state apparatus in Pakistan impedes instead of facilitating any person who wants to contribute to the country of his/her origin. To him, the fascination with mega-projects like the metro bus or ring roads etc. is not in essence a bad thing but the development of human resources, by investing in health and education, is more important. Technically-trained manpower is a sine quo non for economic prosperity. Such human capital is in utter scarcity, he laments.

Like many others from his profession, he too had pinned many hopes on the present government but thinks nothing concrete has been done thus far. “It is all indecision that the current government of Mian Nawaz Sharif is beset with. With regard to policy, government seems to be all at sea.” He strongly espouses a concerted effort on the part of the state to root out terrorism through a military operation. He thinks it is highly disconcerting that no anti-terrorism policy has yet been devised by the Muslim League (Nawaz) government.

A prolonged conversation with Perwaz left me contemplating about the lack of resolve to find solutions to the problems that glare in the eyes of Pakistani masses. I am left with no doubt that dialogue with the Taliban is highly unlikely. TTP leadership will never hold any talks on substantive issues, such as the nitty-gritty of the Shariah that they want promulgated in Pakistan, irrespective of the wide varieties of sectarian persuasions coexisting in our curious synchrony. That is not their forte; thus they will avoid coming to the dialogue table. Their unilateralism is their strength and they are very well aware of it.

Taliban are a different species vis-à-vis other exponents of Islamism, fighting with modernist tools against modernity. From the late eighteenth century onwards, numerous Islamic scholars have strived to embrace modernity with varying success. Even the very conservative of them, like the Egyptian scholar Muhammad Abduh, embraced modernity in his ideas as well as practice and tried to gel it with Muslim epistemic traditions.

The subcontinent has had such a reputed scholar and poet in Allama Iqbal who employed the tools of modernity in his formulations. It is a sordid fact, however, that no one can engage with the Taliban leadership at such a conceptual level. Their ideology is merely a rucksack of rituals which they seriously intend enforcing. The unbridgeable gap between the positions of the Taliban and the Pakistani state is worth emphasising here. Such mutually divergent points of view will not yield any result, except affording respite to the Taliban. One wonders why people are so enamoured with the idea of holding talks with such people, men who are far too crude for such a thing as dialogue. All-out military operation therefore remains the only option. Undoubtedly, it will be a daunting proposition but now is the time to take tough decisions.

Another tough decision has to be with regard to the madrassas which must be brought under the regulatory control of the state. The mushrooming growth of madrassas has continued unabated at great detriment to the state itself. The role of the educational institutions is to inculcate among the young the spirit of citizenship and loyalty to the state. Quite conversely, most of the madrassas have been doing exactly the opposite. A comprehensive system of reform is urgently needed so that they can be brought into the educational mainstream.

In this particular regard Allama Javaid al Ghamdi’s insight makes a lot of sense. He has proposed a distinct option of theology to be offered at secondary school level. Those boys or girls aspiring to be religious scholars may take that route in exactly the same way that specialised education is imparted to doctors and engineers etc. Some of the better known madrassas could therefore work as specialised institutions for training scholars. This is a surmountable task with political will and sagacity. Maulvis would have to be properly qualified from institutions recognised and endorsed by the state. This is what is in vogue in most of the Muslim countries.

Keeping control over mosques is yet another of the tough decisions we face, but one that the state has to take if it wants to survive. In future, before constructing any mosque, sanction from the state should have to be sought. The khutba or the speeches made from the pulpit, too, ought to be strictly monitored and any indiscretion from the khateeb must not be tolerated. Restraining the maulvis and khateebs from whipping up sectarianism will be the most crucial of all the measures that the state must undertake.

Once the state shows its resolve and demonstrates through action, people will start lending their support to such reformatory measures. If things are allowed to persist the way they are, nothing but doom and gloom awaits us.

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"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

26.01.2014

“In Pakistan, policy-making is largely done by bureaucracy”
By Amel Ghani

The News on Sunday: How formalised is the policy-making process in Pakistan?

Saeed Shafqat: In Pakistan, unfortunately, policy process is not really institutionalised. Decision-making is highly personal whether we’re transitioning to democracy or there is a dictatorial regime in place. In both cases it is the person who becomes more important but that does not mean that institutions do not exist. They do exist but are constrained to play an optimal role.

It needs to be recognised that public policy originates and resides in the domain of public sector or the government whether it is at the federal, provincial or local level. There is the parliament which is required to make laws and provide regulatory framework, etc. Legislators are required to pass legislation that gives direction to the kind of policy that representatives of the public will make and the people will own and abide by.

For practical purposes, policy-making is largely done by the executive branch, i.e. the bureaucracy. In our case, bureaucracy has assumed a larger-than-life role, hence it is under public gaze and criticism. For any system, democratic or authoritarian, professionally competent, well-trained and appropriately compensated bureaucracy is imperative.

In a democratic system, the political leadership plays a key role in designing any policy and the participative political process gives credence and a sense of ownership about the policy. But if the political bosses are relatively weak, if the legislature is incompetent and devoid of public good then regulation of the bureaucracy will not take place and without regulation, policy-making will be usurped or taken over by the bureaucracy. Thus, in Pakistan’s case, both policy formulation and implementation roles have been assumed by the bureaucracy. This needs to change.

TNS: Would you agree with the notion that in our country, there is lack of discussion and debate at policy level?

SS: For a sustainable policy, consensus among the policy-makers and ownership by the citizens is a prerequisite. Consensus does not mean uniformity; it demands consultation, deliberation and debate among all the stakeholders. In our case, invariably consensus is compromised by highly personalised decision-making. For instance, you look at this case of Metro Bus in Lahore. Who was consulted? Was there public debate on its costs and benefits? How long will it be subsidised? What would be its impact on the ecology of the city? These are difficult questions, but they are critical for devising a sound transport policy for Lahore.
It is a sad reality that the limited consultative process we have in this country is cosmetic; it is not substantive. Unless we make it substantive, policy-making will remain weak and un-enforceable.

In order to develop a policy which will be owned and accepted by the people, it should be supported by sound professional intake and credible research. That is a serious gap between policy-making and evidence collection. In a culture where research is not valued, whimsical, personalised and interest-driven decision-making becomes a way of life. Thus, uncertainty looms large on the continuity of policies.

It is a sad reality that the limited consultative process we have in this country is cosmetic; it is not substantive. Unless we make it substantive, policy-making will remain weak and un-enforceable.

In policy making, universities have had no role to play so there is an adversarial relation between the government i.e. bureaucracy and the academia. In this age of globalisation, we need to harmonise this relationship because without credible research and broad consensus, judicious decision-making will not be possible.

TNS: As you said, policy-making is a process largely executed by the bureaucracy. Is this a process limited to developing countries?

SS: It is not limited to developing countries. In fact, one of our key problems is that since the process of elected public officials as key policy makers has been shaky it has yet to gain ground. On the other side, the political leadership has not acquired the kind of respectability which, for examples, is given to a bureaucrat or a general, because of their institutional and educational background. But in that sense this problem has continued to persist. In advanced industrial states where democracy is well-rooted, the role of legislature is very clear and the supremacy of elected public officials is very well-established.

The task of regulation and giving direction on policy should be the job of the elected public official. In our case, that line has remained diffused. The political leadership did not have the commitment, vision or courage to do what they were expected to do. Therefore, what happened in our case was that the bureaucracy, being established and more organised, was able to play the role of not only the implementer but also the formulator. This was not their real task: their task is primarily to implement the policy the elected public officials formulate.

The other part that one has to really recognise is that the first contact of people with the government is either with an SHO or a sessions or civil court judge or a patwari. These are the three key public officials and the impression that they make on the public is not very welcoming. Then at all levels, the attitude, conduct and arrogance of bureaucracy becomes an overwhelming concern. In turn, when the public reaches higher bureaucracy, they are reminded of policy as an unalterable commandment. These spheres have to be clearly defined.

TNS: Can our return to democracy bridge the gap between the will of the people and policy formulation at a political level?

SS: As we move towards consolidating democracy, it is imperative to redefine the politician-bureaucrat relationship. The politician’s attitude is to have a loyal bureaucrat; therefore they have indulged in seeking loyalty by politicising the bureaucracy. Thus, they have violated the principle of merit, as well as the principle of hierarchy. So it is about time we began to strike a balance between the spheres of decision-making of the elected and unelected public officials.

It must be taken into cognizance that Pakistan’s bureaucracy is one of the most qualified in terms of having foreign degrees. I would argue that in the last 25 years or so, if a thousand officers were recruited in the higher civil services, at least 40 per cent came with or acquired a foreign degree. However, the critical question is; has it really changed their attitude or improved the content and process of policy making? Has it improved their ability to provide better services? That is tied with the culture and structure we have. They work under a culture and structure in which even your qualification and degrees don’t matter.

In a similar way, I would make a case that a lot of our young qualified officers have either taken long leave or joined multilateral organisations, such as USAID, World Bank, Asian Development Bank or the UNDP. After 9/11, all these institutions would not have been able to run if these civil servants had not joined them.

In other words there are competent, qualified, professional and skilful officers but they are leaving the public service as a career. So, retaining competent officers in the service is a serious crisis emerging within the bureaucracy but our political leadership seems oblivious of this.

Again, the political leadership and parties have to recognise the gravity of the situation: they should allow bureaucracy to function respecting the principle of merit, tenure of term and also, to a certain degree, the principle of seniority which is very important in the bureaucracy. In an age of globalisation, hierarchical relationships are changing, and Pakistan cannot escape this process and must re-train and professionalise bureaucracy for the challenges and opportunities that globalisation offers.

TNS: Protests and vigils are becoming popular tools to pressurise the government. How effective are these in terms of influencing the formulation of public policy?

SS: My own assessment is that if I were to look at the period from 2009 to 2013, there has been a protest almost on daily basis, on one issue or the other, especially on energy. Did the wide protests on energy have any impact on policy makers? It remains a question mark. Similarly, if you think of inflation again people have protested but nothing has happened. Part of the difficulty is that protests are becoming meaningless because urban areas are becoming too large. Let me put that in a different way; in governance our basic and core problem is demography — the size of the population and the cities are becoming ungovernable. What happens in one part of the city does not affect the other part; therefore, it seems as if nothing has happened.

Over a period of time, it is the under-privileged who have had to suffer more and the privileged remain protected. This is yet another dichotomy. Why do the protests not succeed? Because there is dearth of leadership that can mobilise and build a sense of community consciousness and rally the people. So protests are becoming a social event unless it is some form of sectarian violence or terrorist killing and that also hardly leads to a policy change.

TNS: How important of a tool is social media when it comes to gauging public opinion?

SS: Social media is still confined to a relatively small number of people. Yes, mobile phones are easily accessible and their number is on the rise and people feel connected and that is a positive development. Their social media usage is still confined to the educated and upper middle classes and not the ordinary people. In cases the interests of the relatively prosperous sections are harmed, they will be quick to communicate with each other. It did happen in the case of Lawyers Movement and Imran Khan’s youth mobilisation.

Social media can be used more effectively to communicate with people in case of certain warnings about floods or traffic blockade.

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"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

26.01.2014

General knowledge
Census is crucial and there should be no excuse to delay the most vital exercise in national stock-taking of people, places and assets
By Dr Noman Ahmed

The Pakistan Urban Forum and First South Asian Cities Conference concluded in Karachi on January 12, 2014 with many useful presentations, lectures, roundtable discussions and plenaries that served to enhance knowledge of the participants.

In one session on the theme of demography and migrations, a very useful discourse took place. A senior official from the government, responsible for planning the census, deliberated about the preparedness of his department in conducting the census. He lamented that while the work on the ground had started and been suspended several times on political grounds, this was no excuse for delaying the most vital exercise in national stock-taking of people, places and assets.

Giving examples from neighbouring India, the official informed that Indian legislators have worked hard and have taken the political sting out of the census. The much controversial issues of provincial allocation of resources, ratios of development finance distribution, electoral affairs and similar matters have been frozen for a stipulated time frame. And the census is conducted purely as a technical exercise to support planning and development initiatives.

Numerous objections, fears and apprehensions regarding the census have been voiced by different political parties, community groups and vulnerable sections of the society in the recent past. The technocrats are strong supporters of this vital exercise and wish to keep it apolitical in nature to maintain its transparency and validity.

Certain vocal critics in Sindh have raised concerns about potential under-reporting of some locations due to logistics and accessibility reasons. Displacements due to the floods last year, internal migrations to Sindh from elsewhere due to different causes, horizontal movement of population and categorisation of housing typologies are also labelled as potential issues that shall have a bearing on any census outputs.

Communities in Balochistan that have suffered multiple predicaments do not feel confident that a headcount in the province would be accurate and open to listing their actual existence. The minority communities have also feared incorrect recordings of their numbers, given the environment of intolerance prevailing in many parts of the country.

Whereas every objection and concern is worth an impartial and objective investigation, a few fundamentals may be established to streamline the progress of this vital assignment.

By its very nature, a census is a technical exercise to be conducted in a neutral manner. It is initiated as the first step in diagnosing the social, demographic, economic and developmental status of the people and the contexts they inhabit. The information gathered as a result of the census has a bearing on allocating public resources, preparing cases for dealing with extraordinary underdevelopment, updating of population listings in different constituencies, outlining development priorities, correcting and streamlining choices of projects/programmes, extrapolating growth trends and many other attributes related to the communication ventures.

The census is also an exercise in assessing impact of past investments done in public health, education, social welfare and even physical infrastructure. The level of actual coverage and penetration of mass schemes such as immunisation works is studied through the tabulation and analysis of census results. In other words, the delivery mechanisms worked out by the various government departments, projects implementation units and donor funded arrangements are examined for their effectiveness. The technical appropriateness and veracity of this exercise is a pre-requisite for fresh planning, modification and implementation of such initiatives.

It is important to note that conducting the census can inform us about the scale, extent and nature of urbanisation that has increased exponentially during the past two decades. The definition of urban settlements and the parameters of urbanisation need to be re-visited to enable the policy-makers to recommend the right choices of resource allocations, development programmes and infrastructural preferences — principally the energy consumption thresholds.

The understanding about trends in internal displacement, production links with settlements, locations experiencing disasters and consequent population shifts are also important matters that can be studied with precision based on census findings. The works of other institutions such as Nadra, Election Commission of Pakistan and Planning Commission will be greatly supported with the fresh body of information that shall be generated through a credible census exercise.

Fears and concerns around census in Pakistan are of various types. The political parties, at various levels of their working and existence, fear that the command and control of these exercises may impact their votebank. The ethnic groups — and their overt and covert representatives — are concerned about the manner in which the concentration of population will be recorded. Parties and groups dealing with specific regions and peoples wish to see the results directly responsive to their aspirations. Proportional population weightage in the provinces is another fear.

As the population factor is a vital variable in resource distribution through the NFC award, the census results and their validation will become an extremely contentious issue. The technocrats and management overseeing the are obviously under enormous watch and pressure while performing this routine duty.

The Constitution of Pakistan has laid down institutional arrangements to deliberate on these matters. Council of Common Interest may be convened to deliberate on this issue at the earliest possible instant. The government can come up with institutional arrangements to deal with the conduct of census in an objective manner.

At the procedural level, a complaint cell can be created in each taluka/tehsil/town to redress applications made by various stakeholders. An appropriate method can be devised to implement this approach effectively. Monitoring mechanisms can be devised with consensus to enable various parties and groups to oversee the process. And the input of research and development institutions can be taken in account for streamlining various problems including access, registration, and denial of information by various people as well as cross-verification.

It must be remembered that soundness of this information generation exercise shall help plan and develop our country on sound footing.

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"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

26.01.2014

Trial sans error
Prosecution system needs immediate overhaul to check acquittals of hardened criminals and terrorists
By Shahzada Irfan Ahmed

“It is better that 10 guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffers,” is a widely quoted expression of English jurist Sir William Blackstone. No doubt this should be a consideration in a criminal justice system, but modern day challenges call for much more. There are calls that instead of letting 10 guilty escape punishment, the focus should be on punishing each and every guilty person and protecting every innocent. This is imperative as such acquittal may lead to repetition of crimes and spread of impunity among habitual criminals.

It is widely debated in Pakistan that criminals and terrorists win acquittal mainly for the reason that their cases are not contested properly in courts. There are inherent flaws in the criminal justice system which favours the accused in criminal cases. The lack of communication between the investigators and the prosecutors is one big reason for this.

Over the years, the situation has worsened and made the policymakers think about reforming the system. There have been attempts at achieving this end but before discussing them there is a need to have a look at what has existed on ground.

Asad Jamal, a Lahore-based lawyer and Human Rights activist, believes the prosecutors have a critical role in the whole scenario but they are not taken seriously by police which think they are answerable only to the political elite and the chief executive of the province.

Besides, he says the prosecutors do not have the power to reject weak cases as happens in the developed world. Furthermore, Asad Jamal says, all those people linked to prosecution of terrorism cases are vulnerable to assault. These include judges, police officers, prosecutors, witnesses etc. They have no protection and even in the presence of a law, one wonders how such a law can be enforced, he adds. He suggests a long-term holistic approach for improvement in the situation and overhauling all the departments which are directly or indirectly linked with prosecution.
It is widely debated in Pakistan that criminals and terrorists win acquittal mainly for the reason that their cases are not contested properly in courts.

Those at the helm of affairs claim they are aware of the situation. As a case in point, a law was promulgated back in 2006 to introduce an independent prosecution service/department in Punjab. At that time, around 1200 lawyers were inducted in the department as prosecutors but later on it was found out that most of them had been appointed on political basis. These appointments were cancelled and fresh appointments were made through the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) to ensure that the new prosecutors were competent and independent of any influence.

As per the Punjab government plan, there is a lot of stress on modern training and recently the Prosecution Department has carried out a 100-day training session for the prosecutors. The trainings have been conducted by local as well as international trainers with the aim to bring the quality of criminal prosecution to a desired level.

A major development is the setting up of a training academy for prosecutors in Lahore by German government through its executing agency GIZ. It is a fact that German government spends almost one million euros every year for improvement of our prosecution service.

Former IG Rana Maqbool, Special Assistant to Chief Minister Punjab, admits problems have been there for long and tells TNS things are improving fast and prosecution system of the country is being reformed on modern lines.

For example, he says, there is a state-of-the-art forensic laboratory set up in Lahore at the cost of Rs 3billion. This facility will help investigators in collection of scientific evidence which will strengthen cases for prosecution in courts. Besides, he says, the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) has been amended and from now onwards video and audio recordings will be accepted as admissible evidence. This is highly important keeping in view the risks involved in dependence on ocular evidence.

Unnecessary delays in registration of criminal cases shall also be discouraged and even punished, suggests Irshad Arif, a columnist and head of a Lahore-based think-tank. With the passage of time, he says, the interest of people in a particular case wanes. This also compromises the quality of investigation as evidence may get destroyed in the meanwhile.

Irshad says it is a pity that the SHO and moharrar are reluctant to register cases just to prove that the rate of crime is low in their area. This trend should be discouraged and the number of cases registered in a particular police station should not have to do with his performance report.

However, one major reason for weak prosecution is the existing gap between police and the prosecutors. Maqbool agrees these relations have not been ideal in the past but adds the partnership between the two is developing fast. Previously, challans were given to prosecutors after their completion but now the latter are made to sit with police officers from the start and even test the trial-worthiness of these cases.

Maqbool says he has instructed prosecutors to go to the police stations especially on Sundays — their off day — and look into the investigations carried out by investigators.

He refers to a meeting with some officer-bearers of bar associations who said they had observed positive changes in the prosecution system. Their observation was that earlier prosecutors would accept bribes right, left and center but now this was not the case. He shares it with TNS that the department is going to set up a helpline and flash phone numbers where complaints against prosecutors could be sent for immediate action.

He clarifies that prosecution’s role is only related to the contested cases, and not the ones which cannot be tried in courts due to various reasons including retraction of witnesses, disappearance of the accused, involvement of proclaimed offenders, for being compoundable or being consigned to record.

He, however, adds police and prosecutors can play an important role in preventing crime or violence by taking pre-emptive actions jointly. They can invoke relevant clauses of Ghunda Ordinance, Habitual Offenders’ Act, Rassa Geer Act etc to put the miscreant’s under scanner and stop them from taking law in their hand.

Of late, the police and prosecution teams are trying to follow some standard procedures devised recently. For example, it is suggested that police shall bring into notice of prosecution, incidence of a crime, immediately by providing a copy of the FIR to the district public prosecutor office, give importance to the pre-trial advice coming from the prosecution like how to strengthen the evidential basis of the case, get advice from prosecutor according to the checklist of the case and so.

It is also advised that the Investigation Officer (IO) and the prosecutor shall keep the victims and witnesses informed of the progress in a case. Both are encouraged to communicate with each other via short message service (SMS), e-mails etc. The IOs shall, during pre-trial stage, prepare police briefs, especially in high profile/terrorism cases, to assist prosecutors in their decision-making process.

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"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

26.01.2014

With healthcare from America
Pakistani American doctors are taking important initiatives to upgrade medical education and care in Pakistan
By Syed Mansoor Hussain

Association of Pakistani descent Physicians of North America (APPNA) is one of the largest Pakistani origin physician’s organisations in the United States with almost 2000 dues paying members. This organisation is more than 30 years old and has over this time evolved from being just a ‘fraternal’ collection of Pakistani origin physicians into a true welfare organisation. Before I proceed, I must in the interest of full disclosure inform my readers that I am a ‘life time’ member of this association and have been a part of it for almost three decades.

Essentially, APPNA has two major goals. First is to provide a platform where Pakistani American physicians in the US can interact and network for professional and social reasons. The second goal is to help develop and improve medical care in Pakistan. Over the years, APPNA has done a great job as far as its first aim is concerned but was never really effective in having any lasting impact on the quality of healthcare in Pakistan.

Most physicians in Pakistan do not realise that APPNA is also the ‘umbrella’ organisation of different US alumni associations of Pakistani medical colleges and universities. As such its component alumni associations have provided direct support for different medical colleges. This support has been responsible for improving care in the attached hospitals of the parent institutions as well as improving medical education.

The King Edward (KE) Alumni in the US, for instance, support a well-established computer network in KE and Mayo Hospital besides providing scholarships to deserving students through five years of medical college. Another example is of the Faisalabad Medical College Alumni that helped set up a neo-natal Intensive Care Unit in the affiliated teaching hospital. Other alumni are and have been doing similar things.
Public health, especially preventive medical care, is extremely important for a country like Pakistan where more people die from preventable medical problems than from most other causes.

Also, general membership of APPNA supported disaster relief efforts during the devastating earthquake in the northern areas a few years ago. Such support was not only in monetary terms but many APPNA members came to Pakistan and actively participated in the medical relief. However, APPNA by itself never had a lasting presence in the Pakistani medical scene.

With the focus on treatment of ‘active’ disease, most Pakistani hospitals, both in the private and the public sector, have developed the capability to treat even the most advanced medical problems. More importantly from the perspective of APPNA, advanced expertise available in the US can at best only marginally add to the general quality of medical care in Pakistan. As it is, Pakistan already has a wealth of well-trained physicians that are capable of handling most medical problems.

Even so, many Pakistani American physicians travel to Pakistan every year at their own expense to provide free specialised care in local hospitals. This is especially true in the field of cardiac medicine. The US based physicians bring donated ‘supplies’like coronary stents with them and implant them in needy patients free of cost. This has been going on for many years.

However, the education and training of public healthcare workers is still lagging behind training of physicians and ancillary staff responsible for care of established disease. The old adage that ‘prevention is better than cure’ is extremely important for a ‘poor’ country like Pakistan. Prevention is much cheaper than curing established disease. APPNA has recently collaborated with Pakistani medical institutions on the ‘hepatitis epidemic’ in Pakistan and how to prevent it.

In 2013, APPNA for the first time took a major step in the right direction by supporting the creation of a Public Health Institute attached to the Sindh Medical University. This new institute is called the ‘APPNA Public Health Institute’. Clearly, public health and preventive medicine is one area that needs development in Pakistan. And by taking the initiative to help set up this institute, APPNA might finally have taken an important step to leave a ‘permanent and positive footprint’ in the realm of medical education and care in Pakistan.

Dr Javed Suleman, the president of APPNA, took the lead in this initiative in 2013. Dr Suleman is one of the US-based physicians that has visited Pakistan many times over the last few years to perform free cardiac procedures for needy patients and was awarded a Tamgha-e-Imtiaz by the Government of Pakistan for his services. I approached Dr Suleman to enquire about his reasons for taking on this initiative at this time. He had an interesting story to tell that is worth recounting. And I quote:

“As president of APPNA, I was invited to the Iftar dinner at the White House in August, 2013. We were about 250 guests there, and fortunately I was seated right next to President Obama. When I told him that I represented the Pakistani American Physician community through APPNA, he seemed impressed. In the casual chat we had, he stressed that countries like Pakistan should place more of their resources in public health education and prevention of disease. The meeting ended late and I missed the last train back home. I had to rent a car and while driving home I kept thinking about what President Obama had said, and that gave birth to the idea of APPNA Institute of Public Health.”

Dr Suleman then brought up the idea among other members of APPNA where there was considerable support for it. He then approached Vice Chancellor (VC) of the Jinnah Sindh Medical University (SMU) about APPNA helping them set up a Public Health Institute as a part of the University. SMU was recently upgraded to university status and before that was Sindh Medical College (SMC). Dr Suleman is an alumnus of SMC and has been involved in its change of status to a university. As such it was natural for him to think of his alma mater to start such an institute.

Professor Tariq Rafi, VC of SMU, took up the suggestion positively and over a short period of time, a feasibility study was prepared. The budgetary requirements for the building and subsequent staffing the institute for a period of three years came to just over three million US dollars. APPNA officially then committed to provide ten per cent of the costs. So far, APPNA members have donated about eighty five thousand dollars towards this venture. APPNA leadership has also approached US AID for financial support and are hopeful that such support will be forthcoming. The institute was officially inaugurated on December 26, 2013. The institute will train physicians and paramedical staff in public health issues.

What the future holds remains to be seen, but it is definitely a good beginning. Public health, especially preventive medical care, is extremely important area for a country like Pakistan where more people die from preventable medical problems than from most other causes. Prevention starts from prenatal care (before birth care for mother) and goes on through things like childhood vaccination, control of communicable and waterborne disease and other important issues like early detection of chronic disease and education about risk factors for serious illnesses.

The important concept to consider is that public health is an independent area of study and not just an adjunct to medical education at the undergraduate level. As a subject it is important enough to require institutions that specialise in education and research in this field.

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"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

26.01.2014

Ruins without relief
Miseries continue to shake the affectees of Balochistan quake due to absence of relief and rehabilitation
By Naseer Memon

Two catastrophic temblors jolted Awaran and Kech districts of Balochistan in September last year. While the episode has been obscured by a series of new headlines in media, miseries continue to shake the affectees.

According to the data of the National Disaster Management Authority, 386 people were killed and 816 injured. Malar and Mashkai tehsils of Awaran were the worst hit. The NDMA confirms more than 32,000 houses were flattened out and more than 14,000 partially damaged. Unofficial sources claim that the digits are watered down. Numbers aside, death and devastation is certainly enormous. Life is still scrambling through the heaps of debris particularly in Awaran district. Countless people are still homeless taking shelter with their relatives and acquaintances in neighbouring Lasbela, Hub and other areas.

Local communities bemoan that only a fraction of the promised compensation has been disbursed by the government. Hundreds of hapless families are unable to reconstruct their mud houses. Most of the schools and health facilities are not yet restored.

Balochistan is a chronic victim of natural and unnatural miseries. Earthquakes, floods and droughts keep visiting the province frequently. Socio-economic indicators of the province are at sub-human level and Awaran is among the bottom districts of the province. Awaran is victim of a double whammy i.e. distressful human development indicators and pervasive militancy. The district is among the least developed areas of the country and the disaster has further devastated the poverty-stricken people.

In a national ranking of districts carried out by a renowned research organisation Social Policy and Development Centre (SPDC), Awaran was 20th most deprived among 26 districts of the province in 2001. It ranked as 93rd most deprived among 100 districts in the country. Another study of SPDC “Social and Economic Development Ranking of Districts of Pakistan” also ranked Awaran at 84th number out of 94 districts. SPDC and the World Food Program reports show 54 per cent population as poor in the district.

Awaran is the 4th largest district of the province, sparsely populated with only four persons dwelling per sq. kilometre. According to the district profile of Awaran published by “Punjab Lok Sujag”, agriculture and livestock are the two major sources of livelihood. Out of 488 villages in Awaran and neighbouring Lasbela district only 83 have dispensaries. Most of these health facilities are ailing from shortage of doctors, paramedical staff, medicine and equipment.

At the time of earthquake, the district-headquarter hospital had only one doctor seen confounded to manage thousands of injured. Even first aid services were not available to meet the unexpected flow of patients. It compelled the authorities to transport hundreds of injured to Karachi and other areas to save their lives.

Poverty is rampant as 88 children out of 1000 live births die within five years and 47 per cent children are underweight. Women are at the bottom of the pit with only 11 per cent girls availing the luxury of secondary education. According to the district profile conducted by Balochistan’s Planning and Development Department in collaboration with the Unicef in 2011, the total population of Awaran district stood at 124,000 and only 49 per cent of the people had national identity cards (NICs). Not having CNIC deprives one from even relief supplies during disaster and invites humiliation when roadside frisking is carried out by security agencies.

Immediately after the earthquake, relief operations were commenced. However, the efforts of national and international humanitarian groups suffered severe impediments mainly because of security related confinements. International aid agencies were not allowed to operate and national humanitarian agencies were denied a sacrosanct NoC and thus restricted from mobilising much-needed resources. All this was done under the pretext of security concerns.

While relief work was going on, an operation was also launched in the worst-hit parts of the district. Militancy is an undeniable reality in the area. There were instances when the government functionaries were intimidated and deterred from working in the area. Rockets were fired when the chief minister visited the area with his entourage. Baloch nationalist groups alleged that security agencies are trying to control the area hitherto dominated by insurgents. It triggered a fresh spate of skirmishes.

In such a hostile situation, local youth and male family members avoided risking their lives and thus couldn’t move to collect relief goods as the routes were unsafe and local people, specially youth, were being stalked. It multiplied the miseries of ordinary disaster victims who suffered agonies and pains merely for belonging to this area. Women suffered the most as they remain immobile due to traditional strictures. Since male-folk could not move fearlessly, it deprived women affectees of food, medicine, water & sanitation and shelter support. Women-specific needs hardly drew any attention in this bedlam and chaos. In fact the government lost an opportunity to reintegrate the disgruntled local communities.

Because of harsh attitude of security personnel, local communities are already dejected. Restricting relief operation has further fortified their alienation. It would have been strategically prudent to facilitate relief work rather than hampering it to provide much needed solace to local communities. Thousands of affectees were denied rightful relief support due to unnecessary confinements.

Realising the intensity of miseries of local communities and lackluster relief work, at one stage the Chief Minister of Balochistan, Dr Abdul Malik, made a desperate appeal for international aid but the federal government rejected his requests and refused to issue no-objection certificates to the UN and other international agencies. Arguably, the appeal for international aid should be the last resort and one should realise that if a chief minister of the province resorted to that, it must have justified reasons.

If provinces are authorised to seek foreign loans and investments, there is no reason to deny their right to seek international support during emergencies if response is listless and insufficient. Whereas international aid appeal injures national self-esteem and pride, absence of adequate relief support hurts thousands of victims as well. Had there been a swift and sufficient local response, no one would have desired foreign charity.

Although international aid agencies were ostracised, some of them were willing to provide support through national humanitarian organisations but the enigmatic demand for NoC blocked all such initiatives. A simple NoC issued by the provincial authorities would have facilitated national humanitarian organisations to mobilize funds even without any appeal for international aid.

Surprisingly, the provincial government did not take up the issue with due seriousness. Although local authorities did not stop national humanitarian organisations from providing relief support, international aid agencies were reluctant to provide funding to national organisations in absence of NoC. Such approach of international humanitarian agencies, specially the UN, can also be questioned. Relief as a humanitarian support should not be subservient to host government’s NoCs. There is no justification to deny humanitarian support through national civil society on flimsy ground of no objection certificate. This confined national humanitarian organisations to rely only on meager local philanthropy which was soon dwarfed by the enormous needs on ground.

National Humanitarian Network (NHN), a network of Pakistani humanitarian organizations, also highlighted the plight of affectees due to insufficient aid, yet it fell on deaf ears of decision makers. Humanitarian response in conflict-stricken areas is a challenging task, yet it cannot be compromised because of security reasons. Thousands of disaster victims cannot be denied their right to receive relief aid at the time of misery, specially when it is a natural disaster.

State, civil society and international humanitarian community are under moral obligation to extend humanitarian aid even in the worse situation. What was even more ironic that while national civil society was restricted through NoC, religious outfits did not need such an exemption and operated freely to provide relief services. Whereas this act deserves appreciation, it has political dimensions as well.

Unlike civil society, faith-based organisations seize such opportunities to penetrate in local communities and proselytise their religious and sectarian dictums. It has been noticed during recent years that faith-based groups are facilitated to make inroads in disaster affected areas whereas civil society is systematically shackled and discouraged. This further shrinks space for already squeezed civil society. Disasters should be considered as humanitarian matter and access to relief should be considered as a basic right of affectees.

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"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

26.01.2014

Estranged allies
As the strategic dialogue process begins, mutual respect and understanding of realities is the cornerstone of a durable relationship between Pakistan and the US
By Dr Syed Hussain Shaheed Soherwordi

The US Secretary of State, John Kerry, will host a ministerial-level meeting in Washington, DC, on January 27, 2014 as part of the re-energised US-Pakistan strategic dialogue process. Both the countries will identify opportunities for increased partnership in areas of bilateral cooperation, including law enforcement and counter-terrorism, economic growth and finance, energy, defense, and strategic stability.

In Pakistan, such ministerial dialogue is viewed as a cosmetic exercise. General public finds a sharp contrast between such meetings and the divergent actions of the two “allies”. Had these dialogues been so strategic, things would have been changed by now in the region. Afghanistan would have been tranquil. Pakistan would not have faced a grim wave of terror. The war on terror would have been over. On the contrary, the strategic dialogue is proving ‘strident nothing’.

The Pak-US relations are very important for reducing terrorism in Pakistan. Pakistan is in the state of war at the moment. Hence, it direly needs financial and strategic support from the US. However, both are missing golden opportunities for mutual cooperation. If the Raymond Davis, Salala incident, May 2 operation Geronimo are a few irritants from the US side. The Pakistani security agencies’ alleged support to the Afghan Taliban, Haqqani Group, and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) are equally ruining the bilateralism. Both the countries are in the state of a Cold Peace or may we call it “estranged allies”.

They are trying to achieve their common goal of defeating terrorism through their divergent approaches. And hence they are dealing with each other by pretending not to deal with each other. This is the point where both are deceiving themselves rather than the other.

The Obama administration has to take care of the majority of the Congressmen. On the other hand, the Nawaz administration has to take care of certain political parties like the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Tahreek-e-Insaaf. Thus, their respective domestic political compulsions are drifting them away from inter-governmental cooperation. In these circumstances, what will they lose?

Closing Nato supply lines and anti-US rallies as well as non-cooperation with the US in strengthening post-2014 Afghanistan could lead to reduction of the direly needed US aid to Pakistan. The US anti-Pakistan stance, pro-India policies in Afghanistan and not understanding Pakistan’s problems may reduce Pakistan’s cooperation in the post-2014 scenario which may bring a defeat to the US in its long war against terrorism. Thus, the US and Pakistan have no option but to cooperate with each other, or they should get ready for the irreparable loss. It would be like the endgame with a total loss for the both.

What is to be done? For Pakistan, one understands its fear of India. However, Indians are more interested in economic development. It’s not a secret. It’s a broader world view that we, somehow, usually do not understand. The term ‘strategic’ must be redefined in changing circumstances. Strategic now means economic development, regionalism, cooperation with neighbours, increase in trade and human security. Thus, we need to see what we can invest in the post-drawdown period. We need to assess how much dependent Afghanistan can be upon us as far as its needs of daily provision are concerned. Pakistani Panadol, Paracetamol, edible oil, eggs, chicken, mutton, wheat and rice are more important and welcome than anything else in Afghanistan. And over and above, Pakistan needs to stop the double game.

For the US, interference in Pakistan’s internal affairs is not acceptable to any Pakistani. Such feelings are flaring up the anti-US propaganda. Linking Shakeel Afridi’s release with the US aid to Pakistan can be equated with interference in Pakistan’s judicial affairs. If Shakeel Afridi is innocent, he will prove it in the court of law.

Today, Pakistan’s courts are much more free and vocal with judicial activism than ever before. Afia Siddiqui has also been imprisoned in the US and the verdict has been given by the US courts. Pakistan could have linked the release of Afia Siddiqui with its cooperation with the US in its war on terror. However, Pakistan behaved maturely and always kept the two issues separately. There are political realities in Pakistan and in the US too. Thus a mutual respect and understanding of realities is the cornerstone of a durable relationship between the two countries.

Pakistan and the US are following a policy of obstructionism. Islamabad and Washington are frustrated with each other. Pakistan, a country that was supposed to play a very active role in the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan specially in the post-2014 era, has been marginalised. Washington is more interested in New Delhi for shaping Afghanistan’s political, economic and military future. It’s a fact that India has contributed, in a very docile manner, to Afghan development through reconstruction and private investment projects. The US, which is taking care of Afghanistan, is aware of India’s contribution. Hence, Indo-US alliance is looking for a “New Silk Road” by improving Afghanistan’s economy and expanding regional trade.

India has contributed immensely in capacity-building of the armed forces of Afghanistan by training and simulation exercises. This further strengthens its role in the inner corridors of Afghanistan. Though Indian role is very positive in its contribution to the development of Afghanistan, no one knows its clandestine activities which would come to the limelight once Pak-India animosity comes to the fore. Thus, Pak-US relations can’t be repaired without investigating into the Indo-US alliance in Afghanistan.

Now the point is if Pakistan is missing a golden opportunity of making Afghanistan a good friend. Losing the US as a financial supporter and a friend at international forum, facing a cold war with India in Afghanistan, or letting antagonistic and annoyed friends to join hands are no options for Islamabad. This is the time Pakistan must chalk out a comprehensive foreign policy in which not a country, not a region but a combination of inner and outer factors should be analysed for a smooth sailing of its interests.

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"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

02.02.2014

Slaves to inaction
Pakistan’s number three ranking in modern slavery and child labour calls for serious efforts to improve human rights
By Altaf Hussain

While other countries in the region with limited resource base are focusing on the development of their people, Pakistan continues to fumble on the fronts of development and human rights, which are necessary for economic development, democratisation and rule of law. One example of Pakistan’s fumbling is prevalence of what is termed modern slavery. Pakistan has been ranked number three in the world with high level of forced and child labour and human trafficking.

According to the Global Slavery Index report 2013 published by the Walk Free Organization of Australia, out of 29.8 million people in the world more than two million people are engaged in modern slavery-like conditions in Pakistan which include debt bondage, forced marriage, and sale or exploitation of children, human trafficking and forced labour.

The reasons cited by the report for existence of, what it terms, modern slavery in the world include weak economy, rising poverty, illiteracy, deteriorating security situation and rule of law and a growing population. All these factors make the poor vulnerable to different forms of servitude.

It further says that modern slavery is found in sectors like primary industries, manufacturing, commercial sexual exploitation, forced begging and domestic servitude. Two provinces — Sindh and Punjab — have the highest prevalence of bonded labour in agriculture and brick kiln industry.
The government must ensure implementation of national laws which render modern slavery a crime. Besides addressing the problems of poverty, illiteracy and underemployment, the government should also ratify all the conventions/protocols of the United Nations on trafficking.

Macro-economic policies, low level of social protection allocation and insufficient development budgets continue to haunt the country. One of the major reasons is informalisation of economy which has systematically continued over the past several years which has left deep imprints on the overall development and shaped the structure of society that continues to grow dangerous. More than 70 per cent labour force is associated with informal sector in Pakistan and of around 57 million labour force, a very small number of labour (nearly five per cent) is organised.

State of Pakistan has shown indifference to these very grave problems of modern times. For example, the state is responsible, under the Constitution of Pakistan, for extending social protection to the citizens. However, only 0.2 per cent of the GDP is allocated to social protection spending.

The country is also performing poorly on the human development front. The UNDP also released its 2013 Human Development Index (HDI) along with the report, which ranks countries in terms of economic and human development indicators. The Multidimensional Poverty Index, an alternative to income-based poverty estimates, shows the proportion of the population living in poverty is high throughout South Asia. In Pakistan, multidimensional poverty is 49 per cent.

The results revealed in the National Nutrition Survey of Pakistan 2011 also substantiate these reports and indicate a worrisome scenario. At national level, about 42 per cent of the households are food secure while the remaining 58 per cent are food insecure.

Literacy level in Pakistan continues to remain a serious concern despite the commitments Pakistan has made to increase it. According to the United Nations Development Programme, “Pakistan’s literacy rate, though having improved marginally over the years, remains considerably short of the MDG target of 88 per cent by 2015 at 58 per cent, and closer inspection reveals large gender and rural/urban disparities.” Progress on MDG 4, in all but one target, is also off-track. In such conditions, people have to compromise with exploitative conditions to earn their bread and butter.

Pakistan is signatory to many international conventions on modern slavery including Slavery Convention, Supplementary Slavery Convention, Forced Labour Convention, Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, CRC Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, but hasn’t ratified UN Trafficking Protocol.

Another major challenge is that the budget allocated by the government to respond to modern slavery is not known. The responsibility of labour inspections rests with provincial governments since devolution of power. Also, the mandate of labour inspectorates differs from province to province under different procedures.

Green Rural Development Organization (GRDO) Executive Director, Dr Ghulam Hyder, says that these problems have emanated from the unequal and unjust distribution of resources. “Pakistan’s ruling elite and landed aristocracy have got hold over resources while the majority weaker sections of society have no or very little resources.” He laments the lack of interest by successive governments in implementing the laws and international conventions.

Implementation of Bonded Labour System Abolition Act 1992 and its corresponding Rules 1995 is an example. So far, not a single case has been registered under this act. After the 18th Amendment, these rules fall under the domain of provinces. Punjab has enacted some laws on bonded labour.

The report also mentions domestic violence against women, forced marriages and traditions of Vani as other problems that plague the society. Though the Prevention of Anti-Women Practices Bill was passed in 2011, its enforcement is yet another stumbling block.

The government must ensure implementation of national laws which render modern slavery a crime. Besides addressing the problems of poverty, illiteracy and underemployment, the government should also ratify all the conventions/protocols of the United Nations on trafficking.

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"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)