#21
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Rule of law Harris Khalique Friday, May 04, 2012 In a society devoid of any respect for the principles of equality, human dignity and equal rights for all, where articles of the constitution are flouted and where there is inherent discrimination on the basis of class, caste, faith and sect, how could we have rule of law. Where there is no social justice, there can be no rule of law. Even if laws do not always favour the rich and the mighty, their dispensation does. If the tussle is between the wealthy and the poor, the wealthy will win. If it happens to be between the rich and the rich, the one who has got the institutions of the Pakistani state establishment, at any level, on his side will prevail. This can happen in a police station, a debriefing cell, a lawyer’s chamber, a court of law, a government office or even on the streets if powers that be decide to whip up emotions in a segment of society and fund and facilitate the rallies. Mind you, the media is making the urban middleclass forget that courts of law are not limited to the high courts and the Supreme Court. There are hundreds of courts functioning across Pakistan whose proceedings, nature of cases, statements of witnesses, arguments of lawyers, remarks by the judges and, finally, the judgements are neither reported nor followed up. Exceptions are few and far between. There is little difference observed in these courts even in this age of ‘rule of law’. Nevertheless, who would support corruption and speak against the rule of law? But neither could we abolish corruption nor establish the rule of law unless the chronic structural issues faced by the Pakistani state are not fixed. These issues are perpetuated by the remnants of a feudal class, big businesses aided by affluent middleclass professionals largely belonging to central Punjab and Karachi, post-colonial bureaucracy and omnipresent military. Only if this precondition of fixing the structural issues is understood and the link is established in the minds of those who clamour for abolishing corruption and establishing the rule of law, they can succeed. The fundamental problems of class discrimination and redistribution of wealth, identity and ethnicity, women’s rights and exclusion of minorities can only be resolved by an uninterrupted political process, free and fair elections, supremacy of parliament and progressive legislation in the federation as well as in provinces. It does require a self-aware and conscious electorate. But this awareness also evolves with the process. Undoubtedly, Pakistan still is a plutocracy – a democracy of the rich. But it is changing and can only turn into a people’s democracy through a democratic process, not by a whiplash, a stroke of the pen or instituting a technocratic government. This seems a long haul. But there are no shortcuts in history. Today, the incumbent government is accused of mammoth corruption by its adversaries. Interestingly, by those who were themselves responsible for the cooperatives scam which impoverished the already poor, bank defaults, the freezing of foreign currency accounts which badly affected foreign remittances, patronage and kickbacks, etc. The selectivity of higher courts works in their favour. If the government is ousted, will the four million civil servants start functioning honestly? Will the rich start paying taxes? Will the generals and top bureaucrats relinquish their undeserved privileges? Out of 8041 beneficiaries of the NRO, only a handful are politicians. The overwhelming majority is of bureaucrats followed by businessmen. I reiterate: Nothing will change if the structural issues are not addressed. The only way to do that in the present time and age is continuing with the democratic process. The writer is an Islamabad-based poet and author. Email: harris.khalique@gmail.com -The News |
#22
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The bedrock of Pakistan! May 5, 2012By: Imran Malik Ever since its independence, Pakistan has faced enormous and multifaceted challenges. These challenges ranged from natural disasters to manmade or self-created ones. Irrespective of the nature of a disaster, the Armed Forces of Pakistan (AFP) have always formed the bedrock of the nation as it dealt with them! The geopolitical imperatives for the nation are manifold. A rising India poses a challenge and a very potent threat. Its relentless military and nuclear build-up has clearly upset the strategic balance in the region. A nervous Iran, under constant threat of conventional nuclear attacks by the US-Israel-Nato combine, creates its own dynamics in the region with the potential of pulling Pakistan into a future strategic quagmire! The audacious occupation of a turbulent Afghanistan by the overbearing US-Isaf-Nato forces has made the whole region volatile and prone to outbreaks of violence across borders. This makes the Russians and Chinese extremely nervous and puts Pakistan firmly in the centre of the regional geopolitical/strategic calculus. The uncertain future of Afghanistan and Indian shenanigans therein remain worrisome strategic invariables for Pakistan. The AFP will as usual form the most potent foreign policy tool of the nation to deal with all such emerging geopolitical challenges. At the geostrategic plane, the AFP had to face unprecedented challenges. By default, they have always had to fight uneven battles against all odds. Be it the ubiquitous Kashmir and India problem, the excesses of the US-Isaf-Nato combine on the Western borders, the Taliban/Al-Qaeda-led and inspired insurgency within the country or the potential conflict brewing in Iran, the nation will always continue to look up to the AFP to stand up and be counted in the defence of the motherland. Even in cases of natural disasters, political upheavals, law and order situations, floods, earthquakes, famines, development of inaccessible regions etc, it will still be the AFP that will provide the essential leadership, stability and expertise to deal with all such situations. Of late, at the national political level, the AFP – the literal centre of gravity of the nation – has come under enormous pressures through an inspired and well crafted smear campaign. Some elements of the government, media, liberal and political elite, acting as virtual fifth columnists, relentlessly attacked them. They were so obviously inspired by factors other than their love for the country and its armed forces. Then there was a series of events one after the other that questioned the professional acumen of the AFP and their intelligence services. The Raymond Davis episode would have never happened had some of our diplomats and government bigwigs not allowed a freehand to the US intelligence agencies/ contractors like Blackwater, DyanCrop, Xe etc, to play havoc with our national security, including threats to our nuclear assets/programme. The OBL saga will be revealed in detail once the Commission’s report sees daylight. However, his presence on our soil, if proved beyond reasonable doubt, will remain a black mark against the AFP and intelligence services. The attack on the Mehran Base was a simple case of intelligence and security failure. The Salala massacre was a classic case of the US playing Brutus – stabbing Pakistan in the back – ripping to smithereens its trust and confidence in its ally! In all cases, the nation, except for a few inspired and obvious exceptions, stood by its armed forces. The people have always acknowledged the sacrifices that the AFP has made and still holds them in high esteem. The AFP is currently overstretched. It looks after the glacial frontiers in the north, the vast eastern borders with India, the semi-mountainous badlands of the western frontier with Afghanistan (and by default the US-Isaf-Nato), the simmering (Jundullah) border areas with Iran and the ever-increasing threats from the sea. In addition, they deal with the domestic militancy of various sectarian and political hues. In aid of civil power, the AFP deals with all natural and manmade disasters that befall Pakistan. These issues are generating powerful multidirectional pulls on the AFP, which would have caused a lesser force to collapse on itself long ago. A paradigm shift, however, is in the offing. The AFP is slowly moving into the background in the scheme of domestic, political and international affairs. The democratic civilian government appears to be taking the lead in these matters now. Policy formulation and decision making at the national and government levels is slowly and solely being taken over by the civil government. The recent assault on the credentials of the armed forces by certain inspired sections of the media, society and the government, plus the army’s multiple operational commitments, may have combined to cause this state of affairs to come about. By default, the civil authorities may be acquiring ascendancy over the military, as it ought to be. Nevertheless, one feels that it is but a temporary phase. The centrality of our relations with India are all strategic issues like Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek, the rivers and their waters in Kashmir, the strategic and nuclear balance in the subcontinent and so on. These issues will continue to influence all aspects of our bilateral ties. Similarly, the issues with Afghanistan like the Durand Line, drugs and narcotics, terrorism, militancy et al, all deal with strategic issues. A major part of our relations with China, and the US and other major countries deals with the armed forces. Thus, whenever we resort to policy formulation or decision making in any aspect with these countries, the centrality of these strategic issues will force the government of the day to give credence to AFP’s point of view. And thus by default, it will continue to influence the essential national policy formulation and decision making! Irrespective of our relations with regional and global powers, there will be no discernible effect on the centrality of the AFP in Pakistan’s affairs and its role as the nation’s bedrock! The writer is a retired brigadier and a former defence attaché to Australia and New Zealand. Email: im_k@hotmail.com -The Nation |
#23
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A nation abandoned May 12, 2012By Syed Talat Hussain Pakistan is in a state of deep crisis. The top-end of this crisis is reflected in the won’t-do-would-die battle the government is fighting with the judiciary. A sliver of the top-end is also visible in the persistent and unresolved foreign and defence challenges that are all too obvious given the signals coming from Washington that an OBL-like operation might be on the cards against al Qaeda number two Ayman al Zawahiri. But the bottom-end of the crisis is just as dangerous and this relates to the chronic issue of governance whose absence is becoming more striking and deadly by the day. The people of Pakistan increasingly find their lives at the mercy of circumstances or events, which because of the lack of any system, cannot be regulated for predictable outcomes. Health, education, infrastructure, policing, dispensation of justice at the local level, provision of items of daily use, food prices, job opportunities — you name any activity that an ordinary citizen has to carry out and you would be struck by the complete absence of any policy that aims to facilitate that activity or add value to it. Put simply, Pakistanis are operating independent of any governance model. This is called non-governance, which is worse than bad or poor governance because this implies that the state and the government have abandoned the citizens and have no interest in their welfare. To get a sense of this abandonment, you need to read the news coming in from the districts of the country or the reports from local correspondents that are often badly written and are unable to capture the reality fully. Or you have to be a victim yourself. Otherwise, you can easily overlook how the state has let go of the basic task of looking after its citizens. Try entering a police station to register an FIR for a stolen motorbike. Or attempt to get a passport made. Or try finding basic medical care in a far-flung hospital or medicines in a basic health unit. Hop on to public transport to reach your destination on time. Or try doing anything that makes life worth living and you will confront an abyss of neglect, an endless wasteland where there is no policy that is designed for your comfort. At times, when this abandonment becomes complete in the sense that it breaks even the procedural bond between the state and the citizen or between the public and the government, the result takes the shape of, say, the ongoing electricity crisis that has turned the nation into an emotional wreck. Those who wonder as to why an energy problem that has supposedly been on the official cards for years, has not been solved and why must they be subjected to the pain and torture of living in the Stone Age, forget the basic reality: that the energy crisis has NOT been on the official cards. Just like basic education, public health, law and order and other such matters that have NOT been on official cards. The government, specifically, and the state generally, are NOT interested in these issues. A similar example of the fallout that occurs as a result of the state and the government turning their backs on the unmistakable and visible melting away of the lives of the people, comes from Fata. The wounded land of the Pashtun continues to bleed profusely and it is business as usual. The Taliban militants chop off the heads of soldiers and it is business as usual. They shoot down an assistant political agent in his office and nobody is bothered. They ambush, kill, kidnap, murder, terrorise vast neighbourhoods, break into jails and release hundreds of inmates and nothing happens. And nothing will happen because the state and the government do not want — and it increasingly looks as if they cannot, even if they ever wanted to try — to take charge and perform their fundamental duty of orderly management of national life. So in a way, an ordinary Pakistani is no better than a scared animal in a dark jungle, where fear is the lord of the realm and the feeling of being alone and lost the only two permanent companions. The Express Tribune |
#24
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Pakistan: Traitors are within May 21, 2012Mahboob A. Khawaja, PhD Exclusive Article “The war in Afghanistan is inherently related to the situation in Pakistan……….Pakistan will be more fractious, isolated, and dependent on international financial assistance.”[1] Further, it was predicted, Pakistan: Will not recover easily from decades of political and economic mismanagement, divisive politics, lawlessness, corruption and ethnic friction. Nascent democratic reforms will produce little change in the face of opposition from an entrenched political elite and radical Islamic parties.” Andrew Gavin Marshall “Imperial Eye on Pakistan- Pakistan in Pieces, Part 1 (Global Research: 5/30/2011) Pakistan is victim of its own insane monsters – the few collaborative rulers for the last half of a century who have manipulated the nation and institutionalized the tyranny of corruption in all segments of political, moral and intellectual life. It is that simple, when people think, breathe and see corruption as a way of life and it assumes a norm of doing business, they get entrapped and besieged not to view the world outside – the real world that could look undesirable and unworkable by the forces of darkness operating within the hub of the nation. The delusional life perspectives sustain the contemporary mode of thinking across the nation. They see no evil in evil across the board – everyone trying to replace civic responsibility of rights and obligations, common morality and human decency with treachery and self- centered exploitation of the others. At best, it can be described a moral- political curse as a whole when the people ignore rationality and individual and collective sense of honest as the working of the national affairs. Stupidity and ignorance have come to rule, whereas, proactive vision, honesty and wisdom is in dire scarcity across the Pakistani political spectrum to re-enact the capacity-building – a moral and intellectual encompassed political leadership boost to the lifelines of the worn out national skeleton. Islam strives for collective thinking and approaches to complex problems – a community of likeminded people –intellectual and professional resourceful teamwork sharing best expertise and their experiences to find workable remedies, otherwise unattainable. There is a cure to curse generated by the Bhutto family and now inherited and onward implanted by the Zaradri regime. Once corruption comes into systematic societal thinking and practical domains and conditions which are conducive to political cruelty, insanity and moral and spiritual curse are established, the disease spreads with frightful rapidity. The federal governance, the assemblies, the Generals and the official infrastructures all reflect the sadistic outlook for more worst to come. More and more a nation lost with moral and spiritual power of unity find itself stranglehold by its inner generated conflicts of dark mindset and perverted priorities. What about situations where all is deliberately ruptured by insanity of the few, shattered apart, disintegrated to enrich few cruel monsters into extended governance – that is contemporary Pakistan? How to change the worst into best? In a knowledge-driven 21st century global culture of change and human development and given the abundant resources of Pakistani’s educated classes enriched with forward looking visions, intellects and zeal, lot of ills can be diagnosed into workable solutions only if people with positive THINKING and dedicated energies were engaged in an organized scheme of things to pursue such vital national priorities. Volatile issues demand urgent care and cure, not national curse to those who claim to be the political linchpin of the country. Many divides exist between what is said officially by the PPP dominated indicted criminal administration and what the thinking masses experience in daily despairs, social, economic misfortunes and political horrors, street bloodbaths and foreign drone attacks, killing of the civilians, non productive commerce and trade, nothing moves in any rational direction to make their survival come true – a gruesome portrayal of so called democracy at work. The in-house tragedy of vices and ruins so apparent, rather than finding solutions within the political activism, some smart guys find convenient sidetracks to run to the Supreme Court – a self-serving practice to avoid politically generated solutions to a naïve and lost sense of reality. Legal judgments do not change the human character or bring revolution nor determine the destiny of people or pave ways for sustainable societal change and development. History as a learning medium of knowledge is ignored; obsessive and on-going curse of the few feebleminded distorts the spirit of optimism. If Iqbal, Mohammad Ali Jinnah-Qauid E- Azam and Liaqaut Ali were alive today, they would have disowned this disdained national culture of wickedness – a “zalam and muzloom quom” (nation) co-existing with the oddest to its origin and against its very moral and spiritual foundation. Barbara…. A British journalist (Journey to Khyber Pass), a friend of late Miss Benazir Bhutto from her school attendance at Oxford describes something unusual. She came to see Miss Bhutto in early 1990 at the Prime Minister House and was well received. An army Colonel was to look after her visit and meeting with Benzair. While at the PM House, the Colonel raped Barbara in the luncheon room and she wondered why this unscheduled act of performance at the PM residence in day light. The Pakistani Colonel told her, it is normal, every day, Benazir and Zardari have friends and do lot of fun, no different than a prostitution house. When she met the PM, Benazir told Barbara “I cannot smoke nor drink in front of this crazy nation.” Barbara spells out that all concerned were aware of this corrupt culture at the time. The American led bogus war on terrorism is killing the innocent Pakistanis under the false pretext of militancy and al-Qaida and many other superficial labels that the US strategists are expert to devise befitting to their transitory political aims and military adventures against the poor and destitute people. The global media has reported loss of more than 3000 civilians massacred by the US operated drones in the Pakistani tribal belt areas of Waziristan. Cracks are fast appearing in the US led coalition of the Europeans military units. British and French and Germans people oppose the military engagements and their leaders are responding to public calls to withdraw the troops from Afghanistan sooner than the timeline of 2014. The War on Terror has devastated the economic, social and political lifelines of the Pakistani masses. Foreigners will not help Pakistan, their plans are working to disintegrate Pakistan. Nation’s own future is at stake. Andrew Gavin Marshall “Imperial Eye on Pakistan- Pakistan in Pieces, Part 1 (Global Research: 5/30/2011) states that “in December of 2000, the CIA released a report of global trends to the year 2015, which stated that by 2015, “The war in Afghanistan is inherently related to the situation in Pakistan……….Pakistan will be more fractious, isolated, and dependent on international financial assistance.”[1] Further, it was predicted, Pakistan: Will not recover easily from decades of political and economic mismanagement, divisive politics, lawlessness, corruption and ethnic friction. Nascent democratic reforms will produce little change in the face of opposition from an entrenched political elite and radical Islamic parties.” “Pakistan-Psychodrama of Corrupt Politics” (opinion maker: 12/5/2011) the author noted the following observations: “American friendship is more dangerous than its publicly defined animosity. Rejecting cynicism but pondering on the US rationale of “war on terrorism”, there are ample similarities of the blueprint what happened in Iraq, the same fate could be waiting for Pakistan.” Pakistan is run by indicted criminals – both Zardari and the PM Gilani have lost credibility. It is a tormenting uneasiness for the interests of Pakistan to have these two crime riddled people holding offices of the governance. The Supreme Court found PM Gilani guilty of the contempt of court in refusing to re-open the money laundering case against Zardari and his dead wife Bhutto in a Swiss Court of Law. Missing sense of rational responsibility to the interest of the nation and Pakistan was undermined and Zardari was preferred by the self- made PM. What are the characteristic of responsible people’s governance? Zardari is the problem, and that must be handled to remove him from power and put him in a legal trial for accountability. The concerned agencies must recover all the stolen wealth taken out by the Bhutto-Zardari- Sharifs to the Western countries. After blatant attack by the US led NATO operatives and killing of innocent 24 Pakistani troops on Pak-Afghan border, the movements of good and service to NATO were stopped in reaction by the authorities. NATO –America refused to apologize for this aggression and cold blooded massacres, yet, the NATO supplies are reported to be moving again to Afghanistan via Pakistan without any policy change. One can imagine, Pakistani ruling warlords must be well paid by the US cash dollars. Like the cancerous ego, PPP-Generals governance tend on following a course of favorite perversion – away from the national interest of the people to increased torture, insanity of allowing the American drone attacks and bogus war on terrorism, murder of innocent civilians in Waziristan and elsewhere in the tribal belts – the known political monsters continue the game to divide and rule the human consciousness. Conscientious and thinking people of Pakistan must strive to workout freedom from exploitation and death squads operated by these cruel rulers. A dire sense of reality would ask for change and reformation of the cancerous political governance. Andrew Gavin Marshall (“Imperial Eye on Pakistan- Pakistan in Pieces, Part 1 – Global Research: 5/30/2011), points out that David Kilcullen advisor to “President Obama warned in April of 2009, that Pakistan could collapse within months, and that, “We have to face the fact that if Pakistan collapses it will dwarf anything we have seen so far in whatever we’re calling the war on terror now.” The adviser explained that this would be unlike the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, which each had a population of over 30 million, whereas “Pakistan has [187] million people and 100 nuclear weapons, an army which is bigger than the American army, and the headquarters of al-Qaeda sitting in two-thirds of the country which the Government does not control.” The Pakistani nation must see the mirror – look at itself straight, candidly and with fullest sense of responsibility: who they were, where they are and where they are heading to – or the Nation stands no chance for the recourse or coming out of the deadly political stunts of the few, time killing legal battles and the historical graveyards. If the nation was not complacent in all of these sadistic misfortunes, the Generals, Bhuttos, Zardaris and Sharifs would have never had opportunities to molestation of the moral, intellectual and spiritual culture and values of Islamic Pakistan. None of these political figures (Bhuttos, Generals, Zardari and Sharifs and Chaudries) made any positive contributions toward a functional democracy nor did they have any knowledge of it to do so and to safeguard the integrity and security of Pakistan. History has a defined role and the present and future generations must give credence to these developments and learn to be aware of the dangerous future in waiting, and how best to make a navigational change to ensure independence and integrity of an Islamic Pakistan. If some were alive and you were to ask the Generals, Bhuttos, Zardaris and Sharifs, what went wrong with them? What made them to transgress against the poor masses of Pakistan? Why were they dismissed from the public offices? What made them to act like cruel traitors to the interest of the Pakistani people? Why could they not change their wrong THINKING? Surely, they will claim innocence and blame others. But history sees the nations and leaders by their actions, not by their claims. To safeguard from further collapse and economic and political destruction, Pakistan must be reconnected to its original ideology and purpose of the freedom movement from the colonial rule. Even if the obvious circumstances deny place for creative solutions and a new political system for change and freedom from the absurdity of the Few, but if there are mindful and active people of Reason and dedication to pursue change, the political framework – infrastructures (thoughts, people, institutions and priorities) of the Nation can be uplifted, reformed and rebuilt out of the deliberate chaos and neglect, political mismanagement and ruins of the few corrupted rulers. Could the THINKING PEOPLE of Pakistan reverse the course of junk history and make a new beginning based on the Islamic ideology and values of the concept of Pakistan? If so, hopefully Allama Iqbal, Rahmat Ali, Jinnah, Liaquat Ali, Tameezuddin, Nazamuddin, Moudoodi and Al-Mushriki and their much anguished and deserted souls could re-visit the left-over half skeleton of the nation that appears ever void of rational spaces to be THINKING of new ideas and workable solutions to the prolonged curse of the Bhutto-Zardari- Musharaf- Generals- Sharifs-Chaudries families. To avert future disasters and challenges to the foundation and integrity of Pakistan, the nation NEEDS people of New Ideas and integrity to evolve Anew Future excluding the feudal lords-dominated politics and institutions and developing a new constitution – a new political system of governance for the beleaguered nation. Otherwise, gangsters and murderers will continue to dominate the political landscape of Muslim Pakistan. Pakistan desperately NEEDS in-house men of NEW IDEAS and intellectual and moral strength to MAKE A NEW BEGINNING and sustainable solutions away from the corrupt political and military absolute authoritarianism. There are thousands and thousands of educated, visionary and intelligent Pakistanis living abroad who are not part of the corrupt system of politics can make the difference in reshaping new and sustainable future for Pakistan. See how India has capitalized on its experts resources abroad and invited and encouraged the professionals to return to India to establish new IT city in Banglore and technological-industrial developments across the country. Are the Pakistanis that stupid not to learn good things from its immediate neighbor? Pakistan needs navigational change but there is no political system to facilitate durable political change on its own in a peaceful manner. Another military take over will not solve any problems but create more. One can imagine the most viable solution to the serve the interest of the beleaguered people would be to immediately remove the Zardari-Gilani regime (although criminals and known gangsters do not go away without getting busted), and bring-in a non-political-non-partisan educated leadership and credible government for one to two years with the public mandate to devise a new constitution and encourage new generation educated Pakistanis to establish new political institutions and then arrange the next national elections for new assemblies and new governance. A keen sense of time and history with a focused mind and collective will can refurbish the nation and its dusted aspirations to find a workable cure for the on-going political curse inhibiting all positive thinking and optimism for the future. The THINKING hub of the society must endeavor to use collective thoughts and resolve with an inward eye – an eye not merely to an illusion of change but primary realties of political change with a commitment to the purpose and meaning of Pakistan and its freedom with a distinctive recognition that they have to transform the current absurdity into positive solutions onward to continuing building a better and promising future for the people of Pakistan. Pakistan NEEDS change for its survival and ANEW Future and it must come logically from the rational and active minds and souls of the new generation of educated and proactive visionary people to rebuild and strengthen the foundation of an Islamic Pakistan. (Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in global affairs – global security, peace and conflict resolution and in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations). The article is contributed to pkarticleshub.com |
#25
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Time for meaningful land reform May 22, 2012By Najma Sadeque Land reforms in Pakistan took turns at being Islamic and un-Islamic, depending on who was in power. Earlier, in the 1960s, Pakistani peasants’ hopes were dashed, yet again with the coming of the not-so-Green Revolution. It simply bolstered the feudal landowner both economically and politically. In the 1980s, religion became the stranglehold of the few including the state, even though most did not adhere to the interpretation imposed on the rest. The Qazalbash clan is said to have originally been mercenaries who migrated from Turkestan, settling in the Indian plains in the last two or three centuries. Some became big landowners, some saints and one of them established a waqf (or trust) on several hundred acres of land near Lahore. In 1980, the Federal Shariat Court found the land reforms of 1972 and 1977 to be in accordance with Islamic injunctions. But when General Ziaul Haq imposed his own brand of Islam, the clan resuscitated its case that land reforms were un-Islamic. In 1986, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, tenants’ right of pre-emption was declared un-Islamic. Tenants would no longer be the first entitled to possession of land being sold or transferred. Landlords continued to rule the roost. In 1989, through the Qazalbash verdict, 10 years after land reforms were declared Islamic, any ceiling on landholding was declared un-Islamic. One could be a monopolist, depriving all peasants of sustenance and that was still fine! Maulana Taqi Usmani, who wrote the judgment against land reforms, himself gave the strongest arguments for reapportion of land, which could have been used against the Shariat decision. But no one seized the opportunity. He stated that protection of private property applied only if it was obtained, in the first place, through legitimate means. But can the ‘gift’ of land by a coloniser, whose land it was not to give in the first place, be considered legitimate means? Such a gift was essentially nothing more than a bribe or reward to powerful locals to suppress their own people on the coloniser’s behalf. Maulana Usmani went further: he wrote that if acquired by illegitimate means, it was the government’s duty to take back the land and either restore it to the original owners or give it to the needy! He also wrote that the protection enjoyed by property owners should not be looked at in isolation from duty to God and community. This leaves the door wide open for land reforms. They were the views of the highly influential Maulana Maududi, who was stubbornly in favour of unqualified private land ownership, which created the deadlock. Quite possibly, as an urbanite, the dependence of economies on agriculture never occurred to him. He never addressed the evils of land concentration even theoretically. Unfortunately, he can no longer be asked about his opinion on whether gifting land to retiring military officers — but not peasants who keep entire populations fed — could be considered Islamic; or about leasing to untaxed foreign corporate investors and allowing them to repatriate all output and profits leaving nothing for the locals. The Qazalbash ruling turned out to be a windfall for landed politicians and reason enough never to bring up the land reform issue in parliament. The weakest argument came from the then JUP chief who claimed that Islam has not fixed a limit on land holdings as personal property, nor calls for seizing property; and, therefore, the government cannot do it either. This is faulty logic. Just because Islam remained silent on a matter, it does not automatically follow that it is in its favour. The JUP chief was referring not to the Holy Quran but to claimed history and Traditions of the Holy Prophet (pbuh). Circumstances 1,400 years ago were different and kept changing. The free gifts of nature start with land and water and include all that grows on it and the minerals that lie underground. Their use and exchange create economies and livelihoods. They translate into farms, factories, cities, technologies, transportation and communication networks, and much else. People and livestock have to eat. Ultimately, entire populations and economies rely on small farms. For 10-15,000 years, most farms everywhere were no more than a few acres each. Farmers discovered through generations of observation of nature and experimentation that small-scale mixed-cropping maintained nature’s cycle best and guaranteed sustainability. But in the modern era, overdone corporate technology and acquisitive human nature upset the balance. At a time when chronic hunger and abject poverty prevail and productivity from misguided agricultural technologies is dropping, the tillers on whom the entire country is dependent have to be given their rights. Overturning the last court decision has become urgent. A few acres for every rural family would overnight bring livelihoods to all and harvests far beyond what poisonous industrial agriculture can achieve, corporate propaganda notwithstanding. Over the past years, contrived political conflict and non-issues have consistently diverted attention away from development and justice to maintaining the status quo for unrepresentative politicians. The Qazalbash verdict was not unanimous and the supposedly religious justifications were based on a single individual’s opinion and, therefore, highly debatable. According to one of the greatest Islamic jurists, Hazrat Imam Abu Hanifa, when a landlord takes crop produce from a tenant in return for his labour without the landlord himself also working in its cultivation, such an act is haram. The Qazalbash Waqf case will have to be re-addressed and land reform in the public interest brought about. The origins of the institution of waqf itself may have to be re-examined. Do any laws govern them? Are their account books audited? If not, trust lands could become an easy cover for far less religious purposes and a convenient tool for political ends. The Express Tribune |
#26
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‘Pity the nation’ Faheem Amir The people of Pakistan are passing through very interesting and testing times, as many unexpected, bitter and tragic things are happening in our "Land of the Pure". The prolonged and unscheduled load shedding has made the poor people angry and they are protesting against the PPP-led government across the country, especially in the cities of the Punjab. The power shortfall has crossed 7,000MW. The incompetent PPP-led government has not been able to form any tangible plan to fill this shortage and the people are facing more than 20 hours of power outage in rural, and more than 18 hours in urban areas of the Punjab. The Punjab government is using this issue to gain the sympathies of the dejected, frustrated and hungry people. By exploiting this issue, the Punjab government is trying to conceal its own bad performance, corruption and scandals like the Sasti Roti Scheme, Danish School project and laptops, etc. Even Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, on May 10, joined a crowd protesting against the prolonged power outages in Lahore and threatened to lead a Long March towards Islamabad if load shedding in the province was not controlled. The PML-Q has also threatened to quit the coalition over the load shedding issue. On May 10, the Pakistan Muslim League-Q threatened to part ways if the government did not resolve the load shedding issue in the Upper House. All these parties have no plan to combat this daunting problem. They are just using this issue for getting the people's support in the coming elections. President Zardari has ordered to set up a central control room in the Water and Power Ministry to end unscheduled power cuts. Keeping in view the bad performance of the PPP, nobody can say positive things about the performance of this control room in the near future. At present, the PPP-led government is in dire need to increase electricity generation. The electricity generation can be increased by providing required fuel to the power producers, which costs almost Rs. 400 billion. The government has decided to release Rs. 70 billion immediately to the power companies and issue Term Finance Certificates (TFC) of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) worth Rs. 82 billion in an attempt to resolve the growing circular debt issue of the power sector. Rs. 152 billion raised to address a problem of Rs. 400 billion debt is not a long-term solution and this step shows that the government only wants to appease the people till election day. It is not a long-term solution to this grave problem, which has reduced the country's exports because of the closure of many industries. Unemployment has increased. Many parents are forcing their children to beg. Around 180,000 children are living in parks and streets across the country. Many parents have committed suicide after killing their children, due to poverty and other social pressures in Pakistan. According to the World Food Programme "the number of those suffering from the food crisis has escalated from 60 to 77 million in Pakistan. Nearly half of the 740,000 children dying each year in Pakistan are victims of malnutrition. A new report from Save the Children discloses that 35 per cent of the deaths of children under the age of five happen due to malnutrition in Pakistan. Local insecurity and apprehensions on the part of foreign investors have made our economy very fragile and weak. It is very tragic that our government is not addressing the energy issue on a war footing. Our class-based education system is very poor and there is no check on the conditions of school buildings. The tragic killing of five school children in Narowal, due to the collapse of the school's roof, show the pathetic situation of our educational buildings. The recent revelations in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on errors in school textbooks are also very sad and shocking. The government textbooks are filled with grammatical errors and distorted versions of history. According to these textbooks, "9/11 occurred in 2011. The next general elections in Pakistan will take place in 2008". The afore-mentioned two examples show the pathetic situation of our education system. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has decided to halt its humanitarian works after the killing of its official Dr. Khalil Rasjed Dale, who was kidnapped four months before his dead body was dumped in Quetta recently. Relations with America are strained after the Salala attacks. The NATO supply lines have not yet been opened. America and NATO are tightening the screws on Pakistan. A US Congressional committee, on May 10, passed a bill that imposes conditions on Pakistan for receiving American economic and military aid, which will depend on Islamabad's action regarding terrorists, the menace of improvised explosive devices and the re-opening of the NATO supply routes. The Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) 2013, which determines the defence budget for the fiscal year 2013, was approved by the powerful House Armed Services Committee following a marathon debate. The action clears the way for consideration of the bill by the full House, scheduled for next week. "The bill places appropriate conditions on aid to Pakistan. It is imperative that Pakistan support our counter-terrorism efforts and work for interdiction of improvised explosive devices (IEDs)," US House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith said. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen suggested, on May 11, that Pakistan could miss out on important talks on the future of Afghanistan if it fails to reopen supply routes in time to secure a place at a NATO summit in Chicago on May 20-21. These developments are very dangerous for Pakistan, that is already wrestling with a myriad of economic, political, and social issues. The Daily Times writes in its editorial: "The inherent contradictions in the mismatched partnership only cratered wider with time. While Pakistan received aid and favours from the US, certain sections of its establishment continued with their undercover assistance to the US-hating militants inside and outside Pakistan. Being the weaker, unwilling partner in an undesirable compromise, the best option is not to even touch the hand that feeds your economic, developmental and military packages. One wrong move, and here there are plenty, and the pound of flesh is exacted - publicly and humiliatingly." In these very troubling times, the seven-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) has released the detailed judgement against Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in the "contempt case". This judgement has given a new life to the PML-N, as it is trying to use this issue to enhance its popularity among the people. Many other parties like the PTI and the Jamaat-e-Islami are also using this issue to get popularity in the country. The PM has challenged the PML-N to bring a "no confidence motion" against him in the National Assembly. Many analysts believe that this verdict will create instability in the country. Dr. Hasan Askari Rizvi writes: "The PPP-led federal government is on the defensive and engaged in yet another struggle for survival. The PML-N may not succeed in knocking out the PPP-led federal government in the near future but tension has escalated in the political system due to unrestrained war of words between the PPP and the PML-N. Other political parties like the PTI and the Jamaat-i-Islami are attempting to project themselves as the third alternative and target both the PPP and the PML-N for their criticism, blaming them for all the current problems in Pakistan. The intensified political wrangling threatens the long-term prospects of stable civilian rule. If this confrontation persists, the non-elected state institutions like the military and the superior judiciary are expected to expand their respective domains". Keeping all these developments aside, one thing is sure that Justice Asif Saeed Khosa's note "Pity the Nation" has exposed the true nature of our political leaders, who feel no shame to plunder the country in the name of Islam and patriotism. In the context of the contempt case, Justice Khosa also quoted some words of Khalil Gibran that paint a picture which unfortunately appears quite familiar: "Pity the Nation. Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion. Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave, eats a bread it does not harvest, and drinks a wine that flows not from its own wine-press. Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero, and that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful. Pity the nation that despises a passion in its dream, Pity the nation that raises not its voice save when it walks in a funeral, boasts not except among its ruins, and will rebel not save when its neck is laid between the sword and the block. "Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox, whose philosopher is a juggler, and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking. Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpeting, and farewells him with hooting, only to welcome another with trumpeting again. Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years and whose strong men are yet in the cradle. Pity the nation divided into fragments, each fragment deeming itself a nation." Justice Khosa further wrote: "With an apology to Khalil Gibran, and with reference to the present context, I may add as follows: Pity the nation that achieves nationhood in the name of a religion but pays little heed to truth, righteousness and accountability which are the essence of every religion. "Pity the nation that proclaims democracy as its polity but restricts it to queuing up for casting of ballots only and discourages democratic values. Pity the nation that measures honour with success and respect with authority, that despises sublime and cherishes mundane, that treats a criminal as a hero and considers civility as weakness and that deems a sage a fool and venerates the wicked. "Pity the nation that adopts a Constitution but allows political interests to outweigh constitutional diktat. Pity the nation that demands justice for all but is agitated when justice hurts its political loyalty. Pity the nation whose servants treat their solemn oaths as nothing more than a formality before entering upon an office. Pity the nation that elects a leader as a redeemer but expects him to bend every law to favour his benefactors. "Pity the nation whose leaders seek martyrdom through disobeying the law than giving sacrifices for the glory of law and who see no shame in crime. "Pity the nation that is led by those who laugh at the law little realizing that the law shall have the last laugh. Pity the nation that launches a movement for rule of law but cries foul when the law is applied against its bigwig, that reads judicial verdicts through political glasses and that permits skills of advocacy to be practiced more vigorously outside the courtroom than inside. "Pity the nation that punishes its weak and poor but is shy of bringing its high and mighty to book. Pity the nation that clamours for equality before law but has selective justice close to its heart. Pity the nation that thinks from its heart and not from its head. "Indeed, pity the nation that does not discern villainy from nobility." He further writes: "The respondent is our elected representative and our Prime Minister and in his conviction lies our collective damnation. This surely calls for serious introspection. I believe that the proposed judgment authored by my learned brother Nasir-ul-Mulk, J. is a step towards the right direction as it kindles a flame of hope for a future for our nation which may establish a just and fair order, an order wherein the law rules and all citizens are equal before the law." This is a masterpiece from Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, which speaks about the feelings of the poor people of Pakistan. -Cuttingedge |
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Time to address Pakistan’s xenophobia May 23, 2012By Syed Mohammad Ali The role of education in influencing mindsets is hard to deny. Given this fact, it is disturbing to see a growing body of research showing how public sector school textbooks continue instigating myopia in the minds of our coming generations. A new report released by the Jinnah Institute (JI) in Islamabad reached a very bleak conclusion in this regard, describing the existing educational curriculum of our public education system as one “of hatred”, one “which wholly or partially, is biased, selective and inculcates in the child a parochial and subjective outlook.” The JI analysed the content of textbooks of social and Pakistan studies, Urdu and Islamiat and pointed out that even after revisions, according to the Textbook Policy of 2006, they still contain elements which are detrimental to promoting tolerance and continue distorting children’s understanding of the world at large. For instance, the JI report points out that the Urdu textbook for Class VIII, instead of teaching students about the language and its poets and authors, places undue emphasis on the importance of Islamic ideology and nationalism combined with anti-Indian sentiments. Moreover, the Urdu textbooks for Class IX and X fail to mention literary giants such as Ismat Chughtai, Qurratulain Haider or any other female writers for that matter. Such gross neglect will further reinforce gender biases and fuel increased gender discrimination within our society. The JI report is also correct in pointing out that information which students receive is largely influenced by how teachers interpret it and transmit to the students. The National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) has also highlighted how the curriculum printed by the Punjab Textbook Board disregards constitutional provisions for the protection of minorities, given the presence of what it describes to be “inflammatory” and “discriminatory” content. It pointed out that the social studies books for Class V published in May 2009, claims (on page two) that Hindus divide human beings into different castes and give women no dignity. We should be more concerned with disparities and injustices against women within our own country rather than worrying about how the Hindus treat their women. Other provincial textbook boards also need to undertake serious revisions. Unfortunately, hopes for a revision in religious and history textbooks in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have recently suffered a serious setback after the provincial government retracted its plan to introduce educational reforms following scathing criticism from religious parties. The JI and other entities concerned and educationists have repeatedly been demanding that the government set up and ensure implementation of guidelines for mosque leaders, as well as the media, concerning issues relating to religion so as to prevent propagation of violence and intolerance. A more serious effort to reform the madrassa curriculum (the Dars-e-Nizami) is also vital given that it was set in the 18th century under a very different sociopolitical reality. Attempts to financially or administratively regulate madrassas can bear limited results. Even without secularisation of madrassa education, surely the Islamic world has produced ample knowledge to help promote peace and tolerance instead of hatred and sectarianism. Unless these multi-pronged measures are pursued with all earnestness, it will become increasingly difficult to remove myopia and extremism from Pakistan. The Express Tribune |
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Killing fields May 27, 2012By:Raoof Hasan Karachi and its fear-intoxicated people are bathed in orgies of killing with mundane regularity now. Tuesday last was another day enacted in the dastardly mould of May 12 when a dictator in Islamabad publicly announced his revenge over those who dared to challenge his authority. The revenge was coloured with the blood of over 50 innocent people who were shot mercilessly because they had dared to step out to receive the deposed chief justice. This time around, another twelve graves were dug to bury the victims of a clinically planned assault on those who had taken out a rally in support of a united Sindh. In spite of palpable evidence available then, the perpetrators of the May 12 carnage were never brought to justice. It is feared that this last killing spree in Karachi would also go unpunished. The rally that was fired upon was jointly taken out by the People’s Aman Committee (PAC) and the Awami Tehreek (AT) against the demand for a separate Mohajir province. AT president Ayaz Palijo alleged that those responsible for the carnages of April 9, May 12 and the Ashura Day were behind the May 22 bloodbath also. Understandably, he was pointing his finger at the MQM which has been repeatedly accused of drenching Karachi in blood to perpetuate the fear syndrome that it has so assiduously built around the hapless city and its inhabitants. Many also accuse it of clandestinely patronising the move for a separate province in Sindh. Not that the rest of the country presents any promising picture, but the situation in Karachi has deteriorated to an abominable level. In spite of credible evidence produced about the alleged involvement of the MQM in the May 12 carnage, the proceedings have remained inconclusive because of the lack of interest the government has shown in bringing the criminals to justice. This is part of its much-maligned policy of ‘reconciliation’ where chunks of the state territory have been ceded to the brutal jurisdiction of mafias in exchange for their support to ensure PPP’s stay in power. Karachi has also been a victim of this criminal bargaining where the MQM and its coterie of bandits call the shots much to the angst of even the diehard PPP supporters. There is little doubt that the political parties operating in Karachi have their militant wings, but none as lethal as the MQM. The party has built its clinical effectiveness around the twin dragons of fear and violence. Its members have been accused of running an organised network of extortion and murder while its leader, a British citizen, sits in London organising and overseeing the party’s activities. One wonders what moral or constitutional authority does a person have, who has sworn allegiance to safeguard another state’s interests, to operate long-distance to wantonly lord over the fate of Karachi – once a city of lights that has been reduced to the state of a ghost town with its people living in perpetual fear of being cut in pieces, packed in gunny bags and left to rot by some forlorn corner? This is trademark MQM, yet the entire state apparatus is helpless to check its activities, instil order and save the lives of its people who are left at the mercy of a party that has its roots entrenched in a violent philosophy of enforcing its will through the barrel of the gun. That also brings to light the reason behind the disproportionate level of interest that the MQM has shown in creating smaller provinces. For a party that has its base confined to Karachi and part of Hyderabad, it is strange when it tries to project itself as the champion of the fate of the entire country. Lurking behind this claim is its interest in carving a separate province in Sindh consisting of areas where the Mohajirs are in a majority. For the time being, it is not in the forefront of this campaign, but would soon take charge once the message has been effectively and broadly disseminated and Pakistan is further weakened at the hands of its corrupt rulers with whom the MQM is a close partner. I am also amazed at the lack of interest that other political parties have shown in combating this campaign of cutting Pakistan into pieces along ethnic and sectarian lines. In view of the critical importance of the issue to the future of the country, it should have been included as an item in the political parties’ agendas for winning broad-based support at the next election which is less than a year away. For this controversial item to be projected for winning crude political support among a select community reflects ulterior motives that may be inimical to the interests of the country. Combating violence and eliminating its causes and perpetrators should be the principal objective of all parties that have a share in the government as well as those who may be sitting outside the parliament. Using violence and murder as tools for attaining political objectives is a reprehensible act that should be protested widely and strongly. The silence that pervades the political spectrum is a sign of the weakness of the system, the state institutions and the people at large as also the complicity of the political leaderships. If ‘democracy’ becomes an instrument in the hands of its manipulators to promote their adversarial agendas, it needs to be tackled through initiatives that are outlined in the constitution including a call for executive and judicial intervention to help establish the writ of the state. The writer is a political analyst and a member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. He can be reached at raoofhasan@hotmail.com -Pakistan Today |
#29
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Pakistan's problems: emotional and irrational decisions Faheem AmirPrime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, on May 16, said that Pakistan did not, and will not, compromise on its principled stand but would also not take emotional decisions, which did not auger well for it in the long run. Chairing the federal cabinet meeting, the prime minister noted, "Our relations with NATO and the US are passing through a delicate phase where we need to take critical decisions keeping in view our strategic importance in the region and our national interests." This statement shows the real caliber of our convicted prime minister who is confessing that the PPP-led government has taken many emotional decisions in the world of realpolitik, where national and economical interests, cool observation and impartial logic are needed to take any decision. History shows us that Pakistan's many decisions, emotional or irrational, on political, religious and international matters have always proved counter-productive. Military dictator Zia-ul-Haq's decision to support America in the Afghanistan war against the USSR, by nurturing extremism in Pakistan has polarized our society and now our army is fighting against these extremists. Sectarianism is killing many innocent people in Pakistan and there is no solution to this problem. Another dictator, General Musharraf's decision to support America against the "war on terror" has cost us $78 billion and more than 40,000 lives of innocent people. The very existence of our country is in peril due to this decision of supporting the US-led ISAF troops against the war on terror. Then the Pakistan Army's decision to protect "good Taliban" and crush "bad Taliban" has made us unreliable in the eyes of the world and the US forces did not hesitate to kill our 24 soldiers in the Salala attacks in November 2011. After this incident, Pakistan took another emotional decision and closed the NATO supply route. After six months, Pakistan, now, has taken another decision to re-open the NATO supply route. Without tendering any apology to Pakistan, the US has forced our country to re-open the supply route. An economically weak country cannot afford to disobey the orders of its real master, the aid giver. After NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen's threat that Pakistan could miss out on a NATO summit in Chicago if it fails to reopen the supply routes in time, our civil and military leadership had no option left except to clear the way for the NATO supplies via the land route. No country can afford international isolation in our times. No one knows the details of the deal with the US, but one thing is clear that the US is in no mood to tender an apology for the Salala attacks. It is also not stopping drone strikes, which are killing many innocent civilians in Pakistan. In other words, the US is not willing to accept the demands of our parliamentary resolutions. Many news reports reveal that the PPP-led government, in consultation with the military leadership, is trying very hard to secure as many dollars as the US is willing to give in the context of a transactional arrangement. The Washington Post has revealed that Pakistan wants to get $ 5,000 per container from the US while US Defence Secretary Leon E. Panetta has ruled out paying $ 5,000 per container to Pakistan, on May 19. "Considering the financial challenges that we're facing, that's not likely," Panetta said of the demand. Before the supply routes were closed in November after the US attack on two remote Pakistani border posts that killed two dozen Pakistani troops, NATO convoys were paying an average of about $250 a truck, a senior US official said. US officials say they remain hopeful they can resolve the dispute. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari accepted a last-minute invitation to attend the meetings, where he met President Obama, en passant. After the PPP-led government's decision of re-opening the supply route, many analysts are asking the following questions:- Where does our sovereignty stand now? What is the value of parliamentary resolutions? What will be the action plan of the political opposition parties in the near future? The PML-N, Jamaat-i-Islami and the PTI are against the reopening of supplies to NATO troops and they are already launching protests against the government. The Defence of Pakistan Council (DPC), on May 19, also announced to organise a Long March against the possible restoration of supply line for NATO forces on May 27. Chief of the Council, Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, told reporters in Lahore that the DPC will also observe a protest day on May 25. Rallies will be organised in major cities to oppose transit facility to NATO forces. He said that the restoration of NATO supplies is unacceptable, as the US had killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and has refused to tender an apology over the deaths. He said that the US has also refused to stop drone strikes in the country's tribal regions despite repeated demands from the government and people of Pakistan. All these developments show that poor Pakistanis are bound to face more problems and testing times in the near future. Our opposition parties should not incite the people by using the words of "honour", "sovereignty" and "patriotism", as Pakistan cannot afford to face isolation in the world. 'Honour' can only be defended when a country is economically strong. Beggars are not choosers. The Daily Times writes: "Our duality of policy vis-à-vis our Afghan proxies has made the task of combating terrorism on our own soil that much more difficult. Our chest thumping on national 'honour' had painted us into a corner from which extraction depended on professional diplomacy, not loud slogans for the gallery. Hopefully belated wisdom will teach us not to overreach our real strengths and weaknesses". Pakistan is rapidly sliding towards chaos and if we want to save Pakistan from utter failure then our leadership should take rational decisions in critical times, as emotional and irrational decisions have turned Pakistan into a weak and war-torn country. -Cuttingedge |
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Dealing with the roots of crises June 1, 2012Shahab Usto Whether it is the energy crisis, political instability, ethnic violence, civil-military imbalance, institutional frictions, recurrent insurgencies, regional wars or international tensions, the root causes of our chronic ailments lie in the tripod on which the modern polity rests: legitimacy, authority and governance. The trivet can sustain itself when one or even two of its legs are weaker, but at least one leg must be stout enough to make up for the lean ones. The Israeli state may not be ‘legitimate’ in the eyes of many, but its democratic dispensation (even for the benefit of the ‘Israeli citizens’) is keeping the state a going concern, for all the internal political and external security threats. On the other hand, the Palestinian Authority has neither good governance nor authority over Gaza and the West Bank; nevertheless, this tiny state derives legitimacy from the Palestinians’ historical right to statehood, which is recognised by the international community. Likewise, the Chinese polity may not match the majoritarian principle, but its efficient economic machinery, paradoxically wrought by the same ‘undemocratic’ system, is surely surging the country forward. However, a state flounders when its legitimacy is questioned first internally, then externally its authority is challenged by sections of the citizenry, and bad governance erodes its administrative capacity. A handy example of such a floundering state is our western neighbour, Afghanistan, whose political stability and even territorial integrity are perennially imperiled by inter-ethnic, regional and global rivalries. And there are many other ‘hulks’ of states in the world. Unfortunately, our situation is not any better. There is a counter argument to the legitimacy-authority-governance thesis that is equally robust: states being politico-legal species are always prone to responding to a host of social, cultural, economic, security and political imperatives, which cause them to grow, sometimes beyond the classical limitations — sovereignty, territorial integrity, land and citizenship. The European Union (EU) constitutes more than two dozen states that once waged wars against one another for national honour, territory, economic interests, thrones and colonies, but have now surrendered their sovereignty, territorial exclusivity and markets to the Union. On the touchstone of legitimacy, authority and good governance, can we say we are not a floundering state? Of course, opinion is divided. There are those who believe we are ‘doomed’ or at least ‘on the brink’. They would point to the myriad secessionist and anti-state movements challenging the legitimacy of the state; to the powerful corporate, business and agricultural interests defying the state authority to levy and collect taxes and maintain law and order, and to governance that is infested with inefficiency and corruption, incessantly triggering economic, social and political crises. The doomsayers would also refer to other existential threats: recurring institutional fights, the ‘generational’ regional wars, the increasing global isolation, and state brinkmanship. More ominously, they would raise the question whether we have a capable leadership that could deal with the root causes of these crises. Obviously, answering this question would become difficult. Much of our current leadership is pedagogic, opportunistic, power-hungry or fantasist. They lack the courage and devotion to uplift the poor and marginalised from the depth of dearth and ignorance, to renounce wars and the use of violence as a means of achieving internal or external political goals, and to bring the country at par with the fast developing economies. To counter this dark prognosis, there are voices of hope and promise. But many of them would draw their optimism less from empirical and scientific premises and more from abstract and obscurantist sources. For instance, the entire rightist political classes ascribe our state and societal maladies not to systemic, policy or leadership failures but to our ethical depravity and irreligiousness. Imran Khan is the recent entry to this predeterministic optimism. He trusts his guts and the ‘collective wisdom’ of people to stop the state and society from plunging into an abyss. Luckily, there is another streak of optimism that oozes out from an analogy with many of the East Asian and Latin American states, which like ours, were also confronted with decades-long authoritarian rule, insurgencies, wars and mal-governance. Nevertheless, now they are democratic, stable and prosperous. These states have nurtured middle-class societies, which are underpinned by skilled workers, professionals, scientists, entrepreneurs, the intelligentsia and cultural icons; all those forces, which need peace and stability to thrive and realise their personal and collective potential. No wonder they are gradually but surely evolving a political system that caters to the reasonable, if not absolutely fair, distribution of pelf and power, and more importantly, to ensure a peaceful transfer of power through electoral and constitutional means. To answer the question if we are a floundering state, it must be said that to escape such an eventuality, we must reinforce the tripod of legitimacy, authority and good governance. Legitimacy requires the state to ensure equality before the law that in turn makes the state a neutral empire among citizens and state organs. Authority is linked to the benefit theory of the state: people cherish a state that serves their interests. And good governance reduces the cost of running the state without compromising on its delivery of goods and services to society, and to the world. It goes without saying that such a state requires a capable, committed and accountable leadership. But alas, we have a chronic dearth of quality leadership. The available ones are afflicted with blinkered national and world views. A case in point is the ongoing controversy regarding the reopening of NATO supplies. Toeing the extremist line taken by the Difa-e-Pakistan Council and shared in a slightly diluted form by Imran Khan, Mian Nawaz Sharif is also playing to the gallery, rather than helping rebuild Pakistan-US relations on rational and mutually beneficial grounds. No, Mian Sahib, it’s time to deal with the roots of our crises — the state’s lack of legitimacy, authority and good governance — and that requires politicians to become statesmen or let the polity wither away. The writer is a lawyer and academic. He can be reached at shahabusto@hotmail.com -Daily Times |
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