[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]AJK: a generous budget[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Wednesday, 24 Jun, 2009[/B]

AZAD Kashmir’s budget for 2009-10 focuses on the rehabilitation of those affected by the October 2005 earthquake, the reconstruction of infrastructure and the generation of employment opportunities. The AJK government says the “budget provides solid foundation for the social and economic uplift of the area with the provision of infrastructural services and escalation in the pace of development activities ….” There is little reason to doubt its claims. The budget sets aside Rs10.8bn, including a foreign component of Rs1.1bn, for development projects. The proposed development outlay is 13 per cent more than the amount for last year. The money will be provided by the Pakistan government, which is also financing the revenue budget deficit of Rs4.8bn. In addition, the AJK Council is also likely to spend Rs2.5bn on development activities. The Pakistan government has separately allocated Rs6.4bn in its Public Sector Development Programme for 11 projects in the region.

Besides, development expenditure to the tune of Rs29.5bn has been allocated to different federal ministries. Another sum of Rs15bn is to be spent on reconstruction. On the whole around Rs64bn is to be spent on AJK’s developmental activities, with additional spending on projects by sponsors. That should be sufficient money to undertake development works, provide relief and rebuild infrastructure in the quake-hit areas. If spent judiciously, the funds set aside for the different schemes can bring about a noticeable change in the life of the people in the region. The government intends to spend Rs16bn on reconstruction and rehabilitation programmes and over Rs6bn for the completion of 11 mega projects under the annual development programme. Allocations have also been made in the budget for implementing development projects in the health, education, agriculture and irrigation sectors. Provision of potable water is also a priority. Apart from making generous allocations for development, the new AJK government should also be commended for its austerity drive, which allowed it to retire its overdraft of Rs2bn and save another Rs1bn. One hopes that the government will continue to control unproductive expenditure and divert resources to the social and economic development of the region in future as well.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Conflict in Balochistan[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Wednesday, 24 Jun, 2009[/B]

BALOCHISTAN is simmering. A low-grade insurgency has gradually been gaining strength and the law-enforcement agencies are finding it difficult to check the violence that now erupts with unfailing regularity in the province. Last Friday, a judge and his aide were killed. The same day a bomb blast in Dera Murad Jamali injured a number of people while two were wounded in a grenade attack in Quetta. There have been more incidents of violence since then. In May the police disclosed that since the beginning of 2009, more than 200 incidents of shooting, bomb blasts, grenade attacks and abductions had taken place. More than 150 people had died while approximately 400 were injured. Add to this the toll of the last one month — over 20 deaths and at least 125 injured — and the picture is one of war.

So grave is the crisis that talk of all-parties conferences, committees and enhanced budgetary allocations does not have any impact. Why should it be taken seriously when no concrete steps are being taken to indicate that Islamabad means business? The government’s broken promises are now becoming embarrassing for the Baloch leadership that threw in its lot with the rulers at the centre. Some of the leaders have tried to resign but have been held back. Others have demonstrated public dissent at the way matters are being handled. Take the APC. The PPP promised a dialogue to resolve Balochistan’s problems but has so far failed to honour its word. The last time the prime minister pledged to convene an APC was in May and it was supposed to be “within days”. Nothing has come of these assurances except for the establishment of a PPP committee headed by Senator Raza Rabbani to study earlier reports and formulate a common position.

The Rabbani report makes many worthwhile points. But will they help if they remain on paper as previously? There is also the question of Baloch participation in the APC. Not all nationalists are willing to attend. So strong is their distrust of Islamabad that they are no longer willing to be appeased by words. If Islamabad is serious about resolving the Balochistan problem, some confidence-building measures are in order. Palpable steps to trace the missing people, release political prisoners and rein in the military presence in the province might help pave the way for a dialogue on political and economic issues. At the heart of the problem is the desire of the Baloch to control their own political destiny and natural resources. Is this really an unreasonable demand?

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Waziristan uncertainty[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Wednesday, 24 Jun, 2009[/B]

QARI Zainuddin, a militant commander and rival of Baitullah Mehsud, has been assassinated by his bodyguard in Medina Colony in D.I. Khan. According to Qari Misbahuddin, the younger brother of Qari Zainuddin, the guard, Gulbuddin Mehsud, had been working with the family for six years and was one of the most trusted employees in the family’s pay. However, on Tuesday morning after Qari Zainuddin and Baaz Muhammad, a close aide of Zainuddin’s, retired to their living quarters after morning prayers Misbahuddin opened fire on the two men, killing Zainuddin and injuring Baaz Muhammad. The FIR registered by Baaz Muhammad alleges that the killer acted on behalf of Baitullah Mehsud. That is possible. In recent days, Qari Zainuddin had come out publicly against Baitullah and accused him, among other things, of having links with India and Israel and “working against Islam”. This against the backdrop of an impending military operation in South Waziristan Agency, Operation Rah-i-Nijaat, targeted against Baitullah.

The immediate result of the assassination is likely to be demoralisation in the Qari Zainuddin camp. The group has quickly appointed Qari Misbahuddin as its new amir in a bid to keep themselves organised, but there is little doubt that losing their leader on the eve of serious fighting is a big blow. The truth is though little is known about what exactly is going on in South Waziristan Agency, who is fighting whom and why, and what is likely to happen in the days and weeks ahead. What is clear so far is that the security forces are squeezing Baitullah Mehsud’s strongholds by cutting off the three main routes that lead to them and pounding targets from the air. Reports suggest several militants from the Baitullah camp have been killed so far, but this has not been verified independently. Meanwhile, drones continue to strike targets in South Waziristan Agency, but once again it has not been possible to independently verify who has been killed.

Then in the last few weeks, Qari Zainuddin and Haji Turkistan, former allies of Baitullah, had suddenly emerged in the national media to denounce the strongest warlord in Waziristan. It is suspected that the two were encouraged by the state to turn up the heat on Baitullah. Questions are now being asked about who put up Zainuddin in the house in Medina Colony and what he was doing in D.I. Khan. Questions are also being raised about wheels within wheels: Zainuddin appeared to have taken on the mantle of Abdullah Mehsud, another militant commander from South Waziristan who was killed in 2006, and was quoted in a recent interview as saying that the “infidels and foreign troops in the neighbouring country [Afghanistan]” needed to be attacked. Smoke and mirrors everywhere it seems.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - European Press Call the Labour leader’s bluff[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Wednesday, 24 Jun, 2009[/B]

INFRASTRUCTURE Minister Austin Gatt may be politically arrogant but he sure knows what he is talking about when he deals with the hottest subject that falls under his ministry: power and all that goes with it. This contrasts sharply with the poor knowledge of the matter so often displayed by many of the opposition politicians….

With the rise in the energy rates hitting the pockets of so many people, Labour turned the matter into a powerful propaganda tool in their favour, as they … did over the health services report drawn up for the government.

….What the Nationalists should do now is to call their bluff and challenge them in no uncertain manner to spill out their ‘solution’.

This is not a trifling matter but a problem that revolves around how to pay for the oil the island needs to buy in order to generate electricity. ….There is no easy solution to the problem, which is why Dr Gatt called for a serious discussion on utility tariffs when he was winding up the debate on the estimates of Enemalta for 2009.

The minister was down to earth, explaining the situation in simple language and giving detailed information about plans, including the project for the laying of the inter-connector to the Sicilian power grid….

… Clearly, Labour plan to continue taking as much advantage as they can from the matter, as shown by the way the Labour leader replied to questions on the subject put to him in an interview…. But it is sheer political irresponsibility to give the people the impression that there is an easy solution to the problem when there is not. It was only after the European Parliament election that Labour appeared to be taking a step back and made it clear it was not making any commitment on tariffs. But by Times of Malta then, the votes had been in the bag already….

Dr Gatt said that, despite the high tariffs, it still had to fork out a sum some seven times higher than the subsidy given to the dry-docks. This shows the size of the problem.

It suits Labour well to stay on the sidelines but if it wants to win credibility it has to show to the electorate it does have workable solutions…Uncommitted voters will not be taken in easily by sweet talk. They would increasingly press Labour to go beyond this and put forward their own proposals.... — (June 23)

[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Kidney tourism again?[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Thursday, 25 Jun, 2009[/B]

MANY will be relieved at the Supreme Court’s decision to look into reports about the organ trade in Pakistan. An ordinance banning the sale of human organs had been promulgated in 2007 under instructions from the apex court. The law, when it was enacted, had been hailed by the medical community, civil society and international health agencies that had been disturbed by the scam which reflected poorly on the medical profession in Pakistan. Hence reports that the practice of yesteryear was resurfacing gave rise to the fear that the law would be flouted with impunity and then pushed into oblivion. What is worrying is that challenging the idea of human organs being put on sale is not easily surmountable in our part of the world where the value of human life and dignity is often trumped by avarice. True, those who buy a kidney do so because they need it for their own health. But using the chequebook to bypass the law at the expense of another, poorer person is abhorrent.

In fact, law-abiding, civilised societies where the rules can be enforced stringently do not even approve in principle of the regulated sale of human organs. Hence a total ban. In our country where poverty abounds, the unscrupulous exploit the poor and allow market forces to determine the trade. They grab the impoverished, who are also illiterate and oppressed, and get them to sell a kidney for a measly sum while the touts and hospi- tals concerned pocket ex- orbitant amounts. The Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Ordinance (Thoto) was intended to stop this abominable practice. Regrettably, it has not, or so it seems. In the process, the medical profession, which admittedly has some black sheep, is earning itself a bad name. Little wonder, the surgeons who still remember the Hippocratic Oath are reacting so strongly to this unethical use of surgical expertise by some medics.

Apart from the humanistic, ethical and professional dimensions, the organ trade has another negative aspect. It is fetching Pakistan disrepute in the medical world. Transplantation done surreptitiously, as it is when the law is being violated, can lead to complications and health problems. The donor who is a Pakistani from the backwaters of the underdeveloped rural areas where poverty abounds is left to his own devices and is not always provided the post-operative care he needs. Many illegal donors have reported that their health deteriorated considerably after their kidneys removed. Foreigners, who constitute the mainstay of the business, return to their home country and sometimes end up in hospitals when complications set in. That is how the scam is first reported from abroad. One hopes that the spirit of Thoto will be adhered to and Pakistan will effectively rein in kidney tourism.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Amending the constitution[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Thursday, 25 Jun, 2009[/B]

WITH things moving at a snail’s pace, we will have to wait for quite some time before the constitutional amendments on which there is by and large a national consensus make their way through parliament. Let us note that Speaker Fahmida Mirza’s announcement on Tuesday to form a 27-member parliamentary committee came 15 months after the PPP-led government was sworn in. Time was lost in other matters equally crucial — like the restoration of the pre-Nov 3, 2007 judiciary and Pervez Musharraf’s peaceful exit from the scene. Also a major source of distraction and anguish has been the rebellion in Swat and the deteriorating economic conditions in the country. Notwithstanding the somewhat improved security environment at this time, these problems will continue to haunt us, but they should not be allowed to interfere with the task of restoring the 1973 Constitution to reflect its original spirit.

Today the constitution stands denuded of its parliamentary character. The villain of the piece is Article 58(2)(b), which is part of the MMA-supported 17th Amendment validating virtually all Gen Musharraf’s actions contained in the Legal Framework Order. First crafted and made part of the constitution by Gen Ziaul Haq, Article 58(2)(b) armed the general with draconian powers, including the right to dismiss a prime minister even if he enjoyed the confidence of the National Assembly and call elections within 90 days. It also authorised the president to dissolve an elected assembly. Nawaz Sharif, when he returned to power with ‘a heavy mandate’ in 1997, did away with the infamous article — he had his own reasons. Gen Musharraf revived the clause with a slight, though inconsequential change, requiring the president to refer the assembly’s dissolution to the Supreme Court.

This article must be scrapped if the country is to have a form of government that is truly parliamentary in character — something to which the two leading parties stand committed, as made amply clear in the Charter of Democracy signed in May 2006. The 17th Amendment also created some other distortions in relations between the president and the prime minister, especially with regard to appointments in the higher judiciary and the armed forces. We hope the committee will work with speed to come up with a parliamentary consensus on the amendments. One regrets to note, however, that in the committee, there is not a single woman member or persons belonging to the minority communities.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Damage to heritage[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Thursday, 25 Jun, 2009[/B]

ALL too often the law fails to deter transgressors in Pakistan. On numerous occasions, one finds that the left hand of the state machinery does not know what the right is doing, to the ultimate detriment of all. A case in point is the unauthorised construction taking place on the premises of Karachi’s Jinnah Courts. Currently being used as the temporary headquarters of the Pakistan Rangers, the site is protected under the Sindh Cultural Heritage Protection Act. The law requires that any repair, restoration or construction work be preceded by a no-objection certificate obtained from the advisory committee on cultural affairs, headed by the Sindh chief secretary. Failure to meet this requirement means a hefty fine and prison sen- tences. Nevertheless, a structure akin to a watchtower is being constructed on the premises of the protected site. When approached, Sindh Culture Secretary Shams Jafrani said that the Rangers had not applied for permission to carry out the work. Indeed, it seems that the culture department remained unaware of the transgression until the matter was raised by this paper. A spokesperson for the Rangers, mean- while, indulged in the usual prevarications.

The culture secretary has expressed his resolve to look into the matter, but it is worth noting that the Rangers have on earlier occasions constructed three illegal structures on the same premises. While no-objection certificates were obtained later, this ought not to change the Rangers’ position — legal requirements cannot be fulfilled after the event and used to provide retrospective cover to an essentially illegal act. Incidents such as this take place with distressing frequency across the country. That violators often go unpunished, or are allowed to provide themselves with retrospective cover, amounts to providing encouragement to other potential transgressors. In terms of protected heritage sites, the damage thus wrought is often irreversible. The Jinnah Courts’ case illustrates that the mere existence of the law is insufficient; the law must be bolstered by effective prosecution, for which the relevant body — in this case the Sindh culture department — must command sufficient resources and manpower to do so. Meanwhile, respect for the law must be inculcated across the board.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - Middle East Press Public hospitals do not make law[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Thursday, 25 Jun, 2009[/B]

IN virtually no society is the issue of abortion easy…. We acknowledge that there are and will be many views in Turkey as elsewhere on the ethics of terminating an unwanted pregnancy.

But we also strongly believe that safe and responsible policies can only be promulgaHurriyet Daily New, Turkey

ted and instituted through the mechanisms of the state…. The alternative is to drive those seeking abortions to untrained midwives…. We advocate no particular policy. We do advocate … the implementation of clear national standards that reflect local mores, concerns and outlooks. This is what all European nations have done, with the exception of Turkey. And contemporary practice in Turkey is an egregious abuse of the law.…

Officially, Turkey does have a policy…. In general, it allows termination of pregnancy up until the 10th week after conception. If a woman is [underage] … she must have parental consent. If she is married, she must have spousal consent. If she is unmarried, the decision is between her and her physician. In theory.

In practice, as our reporter … discovered, public hospitals in Istanbul have left implementation of the policy largely to the whims of nurses or doctors on duty…. — (June 22)

The class system in Yemen

BESIDES poverty, instability, and the deterioration of both the economy and civil rights, Yemen faces yet another challenge in its social texture. The Yemeni class system dictates social interaction and relations between Yemeni people. To the outsider it might not be visible, but to Yemenis it permeates everyday life, especially in traditional families….

[B][SIZE="4"]Yemen has a very Yemen Times[/SIZE][/B]

racist culture. The consequences of this racism have stepped out of social life and moved into politics. When the Houthi movement started in 2002, many … families supported the Houthis … and claimed that the government clampdown on the Houthis was an attack against the Hashemite people.…

If Yemenis cannot get along with each other socially, how will they get along politically? If as human beings, they cannot recognise equality or fairness, how can they recognise human right laws or international conventions?

We are living in very difficult times, with narrowing freedom of [the] press, political tension and decreasing democratic space. But … it is more important to have a just culture where people act fairly because they believe they are all born equal, exactly as Islam — that Yemenis claim to adhere to — preaches…. —(June 20)

[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]On death row[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Friday, 26 Jun, 2009[/B]

SARABJIT Singh may have committed the crimes for which he was sentenced to death, but he is now in jail and as such poses no danger to Pakistan or the well-being of its citizens. What then will be accomplished by executing Mr Singh, who has spent nearly 20 years in prison? Taking the life of a murderer will not bring back those he has killed, nor has it been demonstrated that the death penalty serves as a deterrent against violent crime. Indeed, does the state have the right to take a person’s life? Issues of morality aside, the death penalty has no place in a country where police officials and even judges can be bought or intimidated, where the wealthy can get away with murder and where the poor are implicated in crimes they did not commit. Personal vendettas come into it, as does the incompetence of an unprincipled police force which often considers its job done so long as an arrest — any arrest — can be officially recorded. Pakistan is also a country where torture is the preferred method of extracting ‘confessions’. Against this backdrop, the scope for miscarriage of justice is huge and chances are high of innocent people being put to death.

While dismissing Sarabjit Singh’s review petition of his sentence on Wednesday, the Supreme Court observed that “no ground has been made out in the case warranting a review”” Is this is surprising given that Mr Singh’s lawyer failed to attend Wednesday’s hearing as well as the one preceding it? True, the same verdict may have been issued even if the convict’s counsel had bothered to show up. But one thing is clear: his absence certainly did not help Sarabjit Singh’s appeal in any way. Hope for Mr Singh now lies in presidential clemency, a gesture that would not hurt relations between Pakistan and India.

Court rulings are based on the law as it exists and it is up to the government to introduce new legislation. In June last year the prime minister proposed that capital punishment be abolished and death sentences commuted to life imprisonment. Then, in October 2008, it was reported that the law ministry would soon present a final draft in this connection, enabling the government to fulfil its pledge and do away with the death penalty. But little or nothing has been done and more than 7,000 prisoners are still languishing on death row. Their lives, and that of Sarabjit Singh, ought to be spared.


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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]A difficult road ahead[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Friday, 26 Jun, 2009[/B]

AS the state inches closer to what could possibly be a definitive showdown with Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan, events are already beginning to unfold on other fronts. On Thursday, groups that are rivals of Mehsud fought with militants loyal to the South Waziristan warlord in Tank bazaar, resulting in the death of two fighters. The fighting was triggered by the assassination of Qari Zainuddin in D.I. Khan earlier this week, a killing that the Mehsud group has claimed responsibility for. Meanwhile, in South Waziristan itself a series of drone strikes have targeted Mehsud strongholds and killed dozens, though it is unclear if any senior militant leader was killed. In an area as fraught with danger and complexity as South Waziristan, there are so many seemingly disparate threads to tie together that understanding the dynamics at work is no easy task. Compounding that difficulty is the fact that much of the information emanating from the Waziristan agencies is hard to verify independently given the dangers involved for reporters and journalists.

However, one of the major foreseeable difficulties is the security situation on either side of the Durand line. Dislodging the Baitullah Mehsud network in South Waziristan may lead to militants fleeing across the border to the Afghan provinces of Paktika, Khost and Paktia. Meanwhile, the impending American push against militants operating in southern Afghanistan, particularly in the province of Helmand, may cause militants to flee towards Pakistan. On the Afghan and Pakistan sides, then, a double whammy of militan-cy may be looming. The Pakistan Army high command has been engaged in intense discussions on this very subject with its American and Afghan counterparts and assurances are believed to have been extended by all sides to mitigate the expected fallout of a serious push against the militants on several fronts at the same time. If there has ever been an occasion for the three main parties, Pakistan, the US and Afghanistan, to cooperate to the fullest extent possible this is it, and it should not be squandered.

There is another aspect that the state here must prepare more urgently for: looking after the local population that will likely exit from the Waziristan agencies if fighting starts in earnest. The military operation in Malakand division exposed the state’s inadequate preparation on this crucial aspect of any successful counter-insurgency, and a repeat must not occur. With Operation Rah-i-Rast too there was a precedent — hundreds of thousands left Bajaur Agency after the start of a military campaign there to flush out the militants — so surely the state cannot fail to prepare for a third time in a row. After three million IDPs it should be clear that counter-insurgencies are not won through the barrel of a gun alone.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Medical negligence[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Friday, 26 Jun, 2009[/B]

AN example of medical negligence has presented itself in the case of a woman who died in an Islamabad hospital due to the transfusion of blood that did not match her blood group. According to reports, none of the health professionals attending to her noticed that the blood administered was not of the correct group. It seems that the prescribed protocol was not followed to the letter. This resulted in the mixing up of two blood bags. The unfortunate woman, who was operated on first, received the blood meant for another patient. This shows how a little carelessness can lead to death. The hospital’s decision to conduct an independent inquiry into the incident will be welcomed since it will help it pin responsibility and ensure that such fatal errors are not repeated.

There are two aspects of the matter that should be addressed seriously. One is the protocol that a hospital formulates not simply in its blood bank but in every department. It is widely known that stringent and foolproof processes not only facilitate the smooth running of institutions. They also help minimise the chances of human error, that can cost a human life, in various surgical and medical procedures. The second aspect is the human factor. Even the best of protocol can be of little use if it is not observed carefully. It is therefore a pity that the surgeon, the anesthetist, the nurse and the technician attending to the woman were not attentive enough to check the error that proved to be fatal.

This case reflects poorly on the professionalism of those whose stated mission is to save lives and ease the distress of the sick. Given the quality of education and training in our medical education institutions which are supposed to instill motivation and commitment in their students, can we expect any better? True, we as a people have developed the trait of doing our work in a haphazard, careless fashion, and meticulousness is no longer considered to be of any use. But negligence in the medical profession can prove to be costly as this is a matter of life and death.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES-Pushto Press Afghan candidates meet US envoy[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Friday, 26 Jun, 2009[/B]

THE US ambassador in Kabul has been meeting candidates for the upcoming presidential elections in Afghanistan. He has so far met Ashraf Ghani Ahmedzai, Dr Abdullah and Mirwaiz Yasini. The US envoy’s interaction with the candidates at this critical juncture cannot be without an objective.

Though the US ambassador insists that his country does not support a particular contestant, such activities raise doubt. We know that the presidential candidates stoop low and lodge complaints against the government or its functionaries with the US ambassador, pleading with him to introduce a federal system in Afghanistan. It does not behove presidential candidates of a country to make a beeline to meet an ambassador. So why are they doing it?

We are of the opinion that such meetings not only compromise the stature of the candidates and question their loyalty to the country, they also cast presidential elections in a negative light. They reinforce misgivings that people have about the US. Self-determination and pride are important to the Afghan nation. There is no need for activities that put the credibility of the presidential elections at stake. If the candidates want to serve the Afghan nation, they should respect its norms and values. With regard to Pakistan, it has on the one hand launched a military operation against Baitullah Mehsud in Waziristan and on the other its interior minister has once again insisted that the Taliban receive weapons and other help from Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told Nato that if the Taliban were not stopped they could reach India, Bengal and the Gulf. This speaks of Pakistan’s incapability in dealing with the Taliban to a great extent. Pakistan’s weakness does not lie in the incapability of its army and other law-enforcement agencies; the real problem is that the political leadership and the armed forces are not on the same page. Most of the writers in Pakistan say that the real Taliban are those who fight the American (Nato) forces inside Afghanistan, Daily Weesa, Afghanistan and that their attacks inside Pakistan are un-Islamic.

It is a miscalculation on the part of Pakistan’s political and military leadership to think that the Taliban would do their bidding and remain under their command. The Taliban are a rebel force and should be treated as such. Pakistan and Afghanistan, with the support of the international community, should put in place a plan to tackle the Taliban effectively and rid the region of this menace. — (June 25)

[B][I]Selected and translated by Faizullah Jan[/I][/B]

[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Money for the Taliban[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Monday, 29 Jun, 2009[/B]

ONE must welcome the realism shown by the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Russia in recognising drug trafficking as a major source of funding for terrorists. Meeting in Trieste on Friday, Shah Mahmoud Qureshi and his Afghan and Russian counterparts, R. D. Spanta and S. Lavrov, agreed to cooperate in a number of fields, including terrorism, drug production and trafficking, regional stability and sustainable development. According to a statement the three decided to explore the potential of cooperation in areas of border control, exchange of information on terrorist activities and organisations, training anti-terrorist and anti-drug police personnel and promoting tolerance and inter-cultural dialogue. Expressing the belief that terrorists could not be defeated merely by law enforcement, they called for the affected region’s socio-economic development. One harsh reality seems to have made the three ministers focus on the drug trade — Afghanistan has returned as the world’s largest drug producer. More regretfully, powerful elements in the Kabul government are allegedly involved in drug smuggling, and the Karzai government has been unable to act against them. This was a godsend for the Taliban. In fact, as Richard Holbrooke told Congress recently “hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars” have gone waste in destroying crops without achieving the desired results, for this only served to drive the peasants into Taliban hands.

The various Taliban factions run billion-dollar empires. They need — and manage to get — big money for sustaining military operations, which require not only an uninterrupted supply of sophisticated weapons but also a modern logistics system, besides an underworld that runs recruitment, brainwashing and training centres. The point to note is that not all this money comes from the drug trade, for there are other sources of funding available to the Taliban, including from those who have misguided concepts of philanthropy. While the activities of the drug barons can perhaps be tracked if not totally crushed, detecting the flow of non-drug money to the terrorists is a truly difficult job, because this system is more subtle. This makes us wonder whether the plethora of intelligence and security agencies we have possess the skills and investigative techniques needed to intercept and break up the infrastructure of this source of funding for the rebels. While the tripartite cooperation is welcome, the onus perhaps is on us in Pakistan because of the subtlety of the challenge and its effect on the current military operations against the Taliban.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Iran in flux[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Monday, 29 Jun, 2009[/B]

IRAN’S Guardian Council has ruled that this month’s presidential election was fair and the “healthiest” the country has seen since the 1979 revolution. How it came to these conclusions after “10 days of examination” remains unclear, however. Given the stranglehold Tehran maintains over information, what is true or otherwise in Iran is hard to verify. The government has maintained all along that the election, which resulted in a landslide victory for incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was free and transparent. But Mir Hossein Mousavi, who according to the official count was routed on June 12, believes he was short-changed. His views are shared by hundreds of thousands of Iranians who poured into the streets for days on end to register their protest. In the immediate aftermath of the election, Mousavi supporters alleged that there was a shortage of ballot papers at several polling stations, agents of candidates running against Mr Ahmadinejad were not allowed to oversee the voting process, and that some polling stations were shut down even though voters were lined up outside. Then they took to the streets.

What followed was a brutal crackdown by the state machinery. At least 17 protesters were killed but some claim the number was much higher. Women, who were in the forefront of many demonstrations, were not spared either. Neda Agha Soltan (1982-2009), who has become a symbol of the struggle in Iran, was apparently shot dead by a sniper while others were bludgeoned mercilessly by the Basaji and the police. Independent video footage supports these contentions. On Friday, leading cleric Ahmad Khatami declared that “rioters” — it is not clear if peaceful protesters are included in this category — “should be punished ruthlessly and savagely”. They should be declared mohareb, he said, guilty of waging war against God and therefore worthy of death. No one can contest the presidential election in Iran, it should be pointed out, unless he is vetted and approved by the Guardian Council.

If anecdotal evidence is anything to go by, Iran’s power brokers are not in sync with the mood of a sizeable segment of Iranian society. Roughly 60 per cent, if not more, of Iran’s population is under 30 years of age and increasingly frustrated by the social and political restrictions imposed on the citizenry by what is fast becoming the old order. What had relevance in 1979, or through the ’80s and ’90s, may no longer be applicable today. The protesters, for the most part, may have been driven off the streets through strong-arm tactics but that cannot change mindsets. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad originally came to power through a popular vote with his promises of helping the underprivileged and reining in rampant unemployment. His contribution on those counts has not been substantial even though Iran is the world’s fifth largest exporter of crude oil. A rethink may be in order.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Restrictions on movement[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Monday, 29 Jun, 2009[/B]

SECURITY and freedom are bad neighbours. To create a sense of safety and security, the authorities often put restrictions on people’s movement. Restrictions on pillion-riding, roadblocks and security check-posts appear differently to the government and the citizens. Popular reaction to such security measures becomes all the more negative when they are meant to block access to the government itself. It was under these circumstances that the Lahore High Court on Wednesday ordered the Punjab government to demolish a wall it had built to block a road connecting the Government Officers’ Residences (GOR) to a public park. The court ruled that the government could not be allowed to stop people from using thoroughfares, not even under the excuse of securing a neighbourhood.

But the wall is not the only obstacle impeding public access to GOR. A couple of weeks ago, footpaths in the neighbourhood were replaced with greenbelts in an obvious attempt to discourage the entry of pedestrians; at least four roads in the area remain blocked for all kinds of traffic, and the entire GOR remains off-limits to rickshaws, carts and a number of other not-so-pleasant-looking vehicles. These are not the first attempts to turn GOR into an exclusive zone. Under the previous provincial government of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, the chief minister had a secretariat erected for himself smack where once a thoroughfare used to be. Senior officials had walls built on a number of major roads leading to the area where almost all of them resided. To what extent such steps induce a sense of security is subject to how they are perceived. The government’s standpoint is that its offices and residential buildings are obvious targets for terrorists and, therefore, should be safeguarded no matter what. But the citizens might be forgiven for thinking that a government obsessed with its own security can do little to maintain public safety. People also fail to understand why one area needs more securing than all others and see it as an attempt to differentiate between the rulers and the ruled. That they should see their freedoms compromised thus, without raising an outcry, beats the imagination.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES-North American Press How not to help the poor[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Monday, 29 Jun, 2009[/B]

PEOPLE often talk about “a culture of poverty” as if being mired in dependency and despair is a personal choice. But what if government contributes to that culture with counterproductive rules that keep struggling families down? Today, a special state commission will release a report that identifies bureaucratic barriers to climbing out of poverty — some familiar, some new — and recommends ways to correct them. The Massachusetts Asset Development Commission spent the past 18 months looking for ways that low-income people can build up financial cushions, becoming less dependent on state assistance and providing a better foundation for their children. “Assets” can be something as simple as a used car for getting to work, a savings account, or a less tangible benefit such as an education or vocational skills. They are the keys to financial stability. Senator Jamie Eldridge, an Acton Democrat and co-chairman of the commission, says that up to 43 per cent of the state’s population is considered “asset-poor”; they are less than three months away from being unable to maintain their households if they were to lose their job or income. These aren’t just people on welfare; many work in service jobs or as office clerks, but they still need support from programmes such as food stamps, subsidised day care, or one of the new state-sponsored health insurance plans to help them keep their heads above water.

Unfortunately, these programmes can include perverse disincentives to getting better-paid employment or building assets. For example, a parent cannot keep more than $2,500, own even a clunker car, open a college savings plan for the kids, or keep more than $50 in child support per month and still be eligible for most state assistance. Eldridge has filed legislation to adjust some of those limits upwards. The commission report identifies a “cliff effect” whereby working people reach a wage threshold and are precipitously cut off from benefits. These people are working hard at difficult jobs; they shouldn’t have to choose between reaching for a better life and losing support programmes that make working possible. The current fiscal crisis has removed other pillars of support for low-income residents. A pilot programme that matched a working family’s savings in individual development accounts was zeroed out of the new state budget. Many programmes that accept applicants if they earn 130 per cent of the federal poverty line — just $18,310 for a single mother with two children, unreasonably low for a state like Massachusetts — now cap eligibility at 115 per cent. The state ought to help people climb out of poverty, not keep them cycling through. — (June 25)

[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Kurram Agency violence[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Tuesday, 30 Jun, 2009[/B]

UNLESS tackled with all the seriousness the bloodletting demands, the situation in Kurram Agency could get out of hand and have wider repercussions. More menacingly, the Taliban have made their deadly presence felt. Clashes over the weekend between rival tribes led to at least 36 more deaths, the total from 12 days of fighting going up to nearly 90 killed with hundreds injured. Because of the military’s focus on Swat and South Waziristan, the fighting and consequent humanitarian disaster in Kurram Agency seem eclipsed. But the truth is that a minimum of 3,000 people have been killed in the sectarian clashes there that have been going on intermittently since 2007. Geographically, Kurram Agency is vulnerable to outside influences because it juts into Afghanistan. It also borders North Waziristan, a Taliban bastion. The surreptitious entry of the Taliban from Dir and Swat has exacerbated the sectarian conflict to the disadvantage of the Shia community.

The true sufferers of the conflict are the people, thousands of whom have been forced out of their ancestral homes because they belong to the wrong tribe. The militants control all highways, including the key Thall-Parachinar road. This has served to block the supply of food and medicines. As Medecins Sans Frontieres said recently, it is finding it extremely difficult to provide relief to the sick because medical supplies are getting increasingly scarce, and even hospitals have been attacked. Electricity sometimes remains out for months. This has forced many Bangash tribesmen to move into Afghanistan. The local elders have complained to the government that they were unable to play their role in effecting peace because outside presence has sidelined them. Recently, an all-party conference in Parachinar appealed to the government to launch an operation to clear Kurram Agency of the Taliban.

It is a measure of the government’s ineffective role in the Kurram Agency killings that Isaf officials from Afghanistan have tried to bring the warring factions together and end fighting. One can understand the government’s reluctance to open another front at a time when Swat cannot be said to have been fully cleared of the Taliban and the operation in South Waziristan has just begun. But given the people’s misery, the government has no choice but to make its presence felt meaningfully and ensure peace. The first job is to open roads, especially the Thall-Parachinar route, rush food and medical supplies to the people and restore electricity fully. The government should also look into the claim recently by elders from six tribes that there was foreign interference in the area, and that some local tribesmen had been recruited by a foreign power to perpetuate trouble in the agency.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Solutions needed[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Tuesday, 30 Jun, 2009[/B]

ALL is not well in Balochistan. The simmering insurgency there shows no sign of abating. But why should it? After all nothing has been done on the ground to meet the demands of the disgruntled Baloch. The provincial budget with an outlay of Rs72.2bn hardly reassured those in the province who are demanding control over their resources. Be it the gas in Sui, the mineral wealth of Saindak and now the deep-water port in Gwadar, one knows well that the underdeveloped province will not be the major beneficiary of these projects. Even the NFC which divides taxes collected by the centre among the provinces works against Balochistan, which is contributing handsomely to the treasury but gets very little in return. The allocation is made on the basis of population and Balochistan happens to be sparsely populated. The province needs proportionately more funds to develop infrastructure throughout its sprawling territory and make facilities accessible to its scattered population. Long overdue, a new NFC Award is being promised but nothing has been delivered. And, with summer in full swing, it is a major blow to a water-starved province to be deprived of 30 per cent of its water entitlement.

Seen against this backdrop, it is shocking that Islamabad doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to put matters right. Since the PPP government assumed office more than a year ago it has been reiterating its commitment to negotiate with the Baloch to resolve problems that have already been identified — many of them by committees and subcommittees set up by the centre itself. An apology has been offered by the president and the need to grant autonomy to the province has been conceded. But this is just talk and no one walks the walk. As a result we now have a hardening of the Baloch nationalists’ stance which may take them to the point of no return. On Sunday Sardar Akhtar Mengal, head of the BNP-M, said that even a compromise is not acceptable on the national rights of the Baloch. It is disturbing that the nationalists are now convinced that they are being taken down the garden path with offers of dialogue and negotiation that are designed to appease and not necessarily solve any problem. This is most disquieting because our failure to respect the political sensitivities of one province led to the loss of half the country. We cannot push another province over the brink. The government itself says that there is many a foreign power interested in continued turmoil in Balochistan. Why should we so willingly help?

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Up for barter[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Tuesday, 30 Jun, 2009[/B]

OUR collective conscience is silent each time humanism stands compromised. The age-old price tag slapped on the female of the species is a common example as young girls continue to be ‘auctioned’ to the highest bidder or traded in transactions such as vatta satta and other forms of barter. The latest reported victim is eight-year-old Zahida who was ‘married’ to a teenager in Karachi. Reports say the bargain was engineered by her father who wanted to marry the groom’s sister. The great paradox is that these incidents abound at a time when women’s rights’ awareness is at an all-time high across the globe. The prime culprit remains the state; it has consistently failed to enforce laws that provide protection or establish shelters for victims. Secondly, it extends implicit sanction to such excesses by overlooking the provision of legal aid, women police personnel and stations, and laws that guarantee security and women-friendly legal processes. On the other end, child marriages such as Zahida’s not only sustain a self-perpetuating cycle but throw up tragic consequences — loss of education, rise in infant and maternal mortality, and more victims of domestic torture. These ‘marriages’ are one of our saddest social truths that are not just embedded in poverty and ignorance but in the menace of male supremacy. Also, this practice has to be seen as a heinous form of child abuse and the Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1927 that prescribes imprisonment for perpetrators should be brought into force.

Despite Pakistan’s status as a signatory to the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Stockholm Declaration and Agenda for Action that protect children from abuse, low-income segments of the country remain bereft of the concept of child rights. Organisations such as Unicef and Sparc need to initiate aggressive advocacy campaigns that target rural, feudal and low-income environments, focusing on elders who have the power to curb such customs. Last but not least, parliamentarians must overhaul existing laws, police stations and relevant authorities to ascertain that ‘conventions’ extend beyond paper. Healthy childhoods cannot be distant dreams but realities made possible through sensitised legislature and media.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES-Sindhi Press Punjab’s undue outcry[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Tuesday, 30 Jun, 2009[/B]

REPORTEDLY the Indus River System Authority has decided to close the Taunsa-Panjnad canal supply at a meeting presided over by President Asif Ali Zardari. The purpose is to provide relief to Sindh but this raised an undue hue and cry in Punjab. The PML-N and PML-Q were up in arms in the Punjab Assembly last Thursday.

The prime minister, however, managed to calm down the Punjabis when he asserted that the distribution of water would be on the basis of the 1991 accord and the share of one province would not be diverted to another. He categorically stated that there was a temporary shortage which is now over.

The politicians of Punjab, irrespective of their political and ideological differences, present a united front when the interest of the province is at stake. Unfortunately this is not the case in Sindh. Never has a minister threatened to resign in the interest of the province. There is a stark difference between how the politicians of the two provinces deal with matters.

History is witness to the fact that Punjab did not implement the water accord and Sindh has suffered unfair treatment. Ironically when the Punjabis claim they have been treated unfairly, the representatives of Sindh assert that they will be the first to launch a protest. Why is it that the latter does not feel the need to do the same for their own province?

In fact the issue has been further complicated due to the non-implementation of the water accord which was signed during Nawaz Sharif’s government in 1991. Punjab has always benefited from this lack of implementation. Sindh has not got its due share while Punjab has taken water forcibly.

Lower Punjab tributary areas linked to the Indus through the Chashma-Jhelum and Taunsa-Panjnad links should not be a permanent burden on the Indus. The Chashma-Jhelum link canal carries 11 MAF of water, or double the capacity of the [proposed] Kalabagh dam. The Taunsa-Panjnad link accounts for 4.93 MAF. Together these two canals divert 16 MAF of water which is equal to the flow of the Ravi river. In fact the link canals are inter-provincial canals and should be regulated as such.

Punjab claims that the Mangla Dam belongs exclusively to it. But the loan [taken for its construction] was paid off by all the provinces jointly. There is no authority to stop Punjab from this irrational and unjustified act. It appears Punjab has got veto powers.

The prime minister has provided assurances that the water accord will be implemented which means that currently this is not the case. Until it is, the dispute will continue to grow. — (June 27)

[B][I]Selected and translated by Sohail Sangi[/I][/B]

[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Peace deal ends[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Wednesday, 01 Jul, 2009[/B]

THE interconnections between different militant groups operating in the Waziristan agencies is becoming increasingly apparent as the state edges closer to an armed confrontation with Baitullah Mehsud’s network in South Waziristan Agency. The latest sign that the state is confronted with a hydra-headed militancy threat has come with the scrapping of a peace deal signed in mid-February 2008 with tribal elders in North Waziristan Agency. The deal had been approved by a grand jirga of 286 elders of the Dawar and Wazir sub-tribes of the Utmanzai and, among other things, barred the Taliban from setting up a ‘parallel government’ and required that they not attack government and security forces personnel in the agency. The February 2008 peace deal was itself meant to revive and build on an earlier peace deal struck with a ‘sympathetic’ Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur in September 2006. The difference the second time round was that the deal was supposed to apply to the entire North Waziristan Agency (as opposed to the earlier one which was limited to Miramshah where Gul Bahadur held sway) and was supposed to be guaranteed by the 280-odd tribal elders rather than the 45-member ‘monitoring committee’ that had failed to oversee the implementation of the first deal.

Yet, problems were always apparent. While the February 2008 deal was signed by tribal elders, it was the Taliban who held all the power and called the shots in the agency. Then events last month suggested that the deal was all but dead in name. The kidnapping of students of the Razmak Cadet College, an ambush that killed four soldiers in a military convoy moving along the Miramshah-Mirali road, another deadly ambush of a convoy on Sunday that killed 27 — all these incidents and more have been blamed on Hafiz Gul Bahadur. When the deal was officially scrapped on Monday by Gul Bahadur’s Taliban, the reasons given were the drone strikes and the presence of troops in North Waziristan. But there is a suspicion that the operation in Frontier Region Bannu and the one impending in South Waziristan are the real reasons for scrapping the deal. Therein lies the rub: Gul Bahadur had long been considered a ‘friendly’ Taliban leader by the state because he hadn’t been a thorn in its side, but the ‘friendliness’ only lasted while the state took a hands-off approach to militant groups in surrounding areas. Now that South Waziristan and FR Bannu are in the state’s crosshairs, Gul Bahadur has apparently chosen to side with his Taliban brethren. The problems for the state in the Waziristan agencies keep growing.


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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Prisoner of loyalty[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Wednesday, 01 Jul, 2009[/B]

PUNJAB Minister for Prisons Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor has had problems with traditions and customs in recent weeks but this was a particularly bad day for him. For a period of time on Monday afternoon and from the Sharifs’ Raiwind estate, the minister hogged the attention of television channels. This was the time when a clash — apparently over washing rights — between inmates at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail competed for space on the screen with a fight taking place inside the Punjab Assembly. Eventually, the more privileged lawmakers won and the prisoners faded out. Chaudhry Ghafoor has yet to speak on the frequent shows of ill-mannerism on the part of jail inmates in Punjab. He has, however, felt sufficient urge to explain as to what prompted his face-off with a group of women lawmakers belonging to the PML-Q in the house on Monday. He accused a woman MPA of trying to defame the leader of the house, Mian Shahbaz Sharif. Independent accounts confirm the MPA, Bushra Nawaz Gardezi, had flashed a placard inside the assembly, which in no ambiguous words criticised Chief Minister Sharif of failing to protect Punjab’s share of water for agriculture.

Independent versions also say some other leaders, among them prominent men such as Zulfiqar Khosa of the PML-N and Raja Riaz of the PPP, had played more than a cameo role in the proceedings which led to the violence. Chaudhry Ghafoor denies having assaulted the Q-League ladies but eyewitnesses say he had the intent to do so and that throwing books at his target did, in fact, constitute some kind of an attack. Fortunately, he was reined in by his party men or we could have had an even uglier situation on our hands. Indeed one of the aggrieved women MPAs has reminded the faithful Chaudhry Ghafoor of the grave consequences his act could have entailed.

Chaudhry Ghafoor survived the episode just as his political career escaped an early ending after he was accused of violating the law at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal Airport in May. Who knows he might have earned a pat on the back for the show of his loyalty to the Sharifs inside the Punjab Assembly but a party occupying the high moral ground on issues will find his continuing antics a bit too difficult to ignore. After the Lahore airport incident, Mr Shahbaz Sharif let Chaudhry Ghafoor go with a ‘be careful in future’ warning. The people are watching: the chief minister needs to be careful himself.


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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Power woes[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Wednesday, 01 Jul, 2009[/B]

ALREADY reeling under the weight of a massive power shortage, the country suffered a body blow on Monday when Mangla dam went off line and the national grid all but collapsed. Outages of up to 18 hours a day were reported from across the country. Infuriated people took to the streets in large numbers, particularly in Punjab where some protests turned violent. While demonstrations that result in destruction of property cannot be condoned, the outrage felt by long-suffering citizens is understandable. For years now Pakistanis have paid the price for government inaction in the power sector, where ad-hocism and excuses seem to rule. Life at home has been turned into a living hell for all but the privileged, commerce has taken a huge hit, small-time entrepreneurs are feeling the pinch and factories sit idle these days for prolonged periods, depriving daily-wage earners of a sizeable chunk of their already meagre incomes. Productivity has declined and the economy as a whole is suffering because of a crippling shortage of electricity.

Mangla’s contribution to the grid is massive and a sudden shutdown there was bound to cause major problems. But that just reflects poor planning. Our power-generation capacity is woefully inadequate and there seem to be no contingency plans for unexpected shortfalls. According to Pepco’s managing director, “We have lost all sense of the demand and supply situation. The entire system is overstretched … without any contingency [measures in place].” A similar situation was witnessed in Karachi and other parts of Sindh last month when a storm cut off power supplies from Wapda for nearly two days. Then too there was no backup plan that could have lessened the impact of a sudden power deficit. These are not problems that will go away and must be addressed immediately.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - European Press CSO figures[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Wednesday, 01 Jul, 2009[/B]

FIGURES published by the Central Statistics Office highlight great disparities between the public and private sectors in relation to both pay and employment…. The latest figures mean that the average employee in the public sector is earning 25 per cent more than his or her counterpart in the private sector, and over 48 per cent more than the average industrial wage. Whereas 113,000 jobs were lost in the private sector in the 12 months to March 2009, employment in the public sector increased by 2,900 in the same period.

“With the public sector pay bill now accounting for over 40 per cent of current expenditure, and growing, the country cannot afford to finance its expansion,” warned Mark Fielding, the chief executive of the Irish Small and Medium Enterprise Association (ISME)…. Even though employment did increase in the public sector in the 12 months to March…. [I]t dropped by 2,100 between December and March…. Benchmarking was introduced to bring about equity between the public and private sectors, but now that balance had been seriously disrupted in the other direction.

Members of the government effectively set up the group to get the best advice on how to proceed in cutting public expenditure. This does not mean that they must accept all of its recommendations, but the public should know the extent of the advice being adopted. Only then will it be apparent whether the delay was actually to get the best advice or merely a temporising device to delay having to make the hard decisions. — (June 30)

[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Crisis in the making[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Thursday, 02 Jul, 2009[/B]

THE situation faced by the hundreds of thousands of IDPs in makeshift camps is getting grimmer. The IDPs are already contending with gross inadequacies in terms of shelter, food, potable water and access to education or income-generating activities. Now, the World Health Organisation warns that the camps risk running out of essential medical supplies within two to three weeks unless donors deliver more funds soon. This is a catastrophe in the making. The cramped and unhygienic conditions prevalent at the camps have already raised the incidence of illnesses such as cholera, malaria and acute diarrhoea. With the monsoons coming up and many of the camps located in areas that are likely to be flooded, as WHO noted, the risk of full-blown epidemics looms large.

The international community must immediately make good on its promises for donations, and make further pledges. According to WHO, the UN appealed to the international community for $530m for the aid of Pakistan’s IDPs. Of this, $37m is earmarked for basic health needs, but only 27 per cent of this sum is met by the money delivered and pledges made so far. More, much more, is needed. Meanwhile, cash-strapped though Islamabad is, ways must be found to aid the IDPs. Out-of-the-box thinking is needed urgently — after all, these citizens are victims in equal measure of the extremist line taken by the militants, the domestic and international policies that allowed the militants to consolidate power in the first place, and the resultantly inevitable offensive launched by the Pakistan Army. Each avoidable death will further alienate and potentially radicalise an already disillusioned segment of the citizenry. The state cannot afford to be seen as abandoning its citizens to the scourge of disease and death that will follow if the supply of essential medicines and basic health services at the camps slows down.


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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Iraq: new challenges[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Thursday, 02 Jul, 2009[/B]

ONE can well understand the jubilation in Iraq over the withdrawal of American troops from the urban areas, but it remains to be seen whether all parties and political forces will turn this into an opportunity, and work for the country’s consolidation. The end of Shia-Sunni fighting has been a positive development, but that alone is not going to give stability to Iraq.

The recent bombings, including the one in Kirkuk that killed 26 people on Tuesday, show that terrorism is very much alive. One challenge to stability comes from self-governed Kurdistan. It has oil, and that adds to the tension in its relations with the Baghdad government headed by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Recently the Kurdistan government signed some oil deals with foreign companies, which evoked a sharp rebuke from Baghdad. The latter told the oil companies that all contracts with Kurdistan would be illegal unless they were ratified by the centre.

Iraq’s own oil production — 2.2 million bpd — is far below its potential at this time. The government needs money because it has to undertake the huge task of rebuilding Iraq’s infrastructure. A most important job is to rehabilitate the two million internally displaced persons and the 1.5 million refugees abroad. The representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees recently warned that Iraq was “too fragile” to absorb the refugees. The IDPs too cannot return to their cities because the homes of most of them have been destroyed. All eyes are now fixed on the January election, and Mr Maliki and his Dawa party seem determined to retain power. The opposition has accused him of arresting dissidents and using strong-arm methods to tighten his grip over the administration with an eye on the January election. All Iraqi factions have to realise the gravity of the task facing them in the aftermath of the American withdrawal. The total withdrawal is still more than two years away. A worsening of the law and order situation could make America reschedule its withdrawal, and that will only increase dissensions and give a new lease of life to terrorism.


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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Unfair and avoidable[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Thursday, 02 Jul, 2009[/B]

EFFECTIVE July 1, the prices of petrol, diesel and kerosene have been increased by between 10 to 15 per cent by the federal government. The reason: international oil prices have risen in recent weeks, meaning the revenue the government had planned to raise from a carbon surcharge would have been eliminated by a subsidy if local petroleum prices were not increased to reflect the international change. Faced with an understandable outcry from the public, the government has tried to portray itself as a victim of circumstances and claimed its hands are tied — there is neither the fiscal space for a petroleum subsidy nor does the agreement with the IMF allow one. What the government isn’t willing to delve into though are two awkward questions that arise with any form of taxation: raise money from where and for what purpose?

Begin with the first. The Rs120bn that will be earned from the carbon surcharge this year is necessary if the government is to have any hope of reaching its revenue target of Rs1.5tr. But while the carbon surcharge is easy to impose, it is also highly regressive and affects the lower and middle classes disproportionately. Whether you travel in a bus or an air-conditioned car, the percentage impact of the fuel price increase will be the same. And transport charges will rise uniformly, meaning the rich and the poor — the already suffering poor — will have to pay the same rate of tax on basic foodstuffs and other essentials. The alternative would be to raise taxes from elsewhere; Pakistan has an abysmal tax-to-GDP ratio of less than 10 per cent and there are many, many areas that have yet to be taxed. But because the political will and capacity are lacking to rope in sectors with powerful lobbies, governments in Pakistan always opt for the easy option of indirect taxation that is highly regressive. There is, then, no doubt whatsoever that in the present circumstances a petroleum tax is highly unfair.

Next, the question about what the tax revenue is being used for. Here too there is absolutely no doubt that there is lot of fat in government and that wasteful expenditures can and should be reined in. A grotesquely large cabinet, billions spent on foreign trips of government officials, many of dubious importance, the devil-may-care attitude of elected officials to spending public money — all of this adds to the bill that the taxpayers have to pay for. There is a stench of a reverse Robin Hood syndrome hanging over the government.


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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - Middle East Press The legend [/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Thursday, 02 Jul, 2009[/B]

… WHAT stood him out … [was] Jackson’s unique style of dancing…. He was a perfectionist to the core…. His perfectionism, probably, might have hastened his death.

A report has speculated that he was exerting himself too much for his forthcoming British tour. … Like many other American greats, Jackson had had ups and downs

and lows and highs. But his fall had started … when his private life cast a long shadow on his music.

He was more on gossip columns than in pop charts because of allegations of child molestation, a series of plastic surgeries, reclusive living and eccentric behaviour.

Though he was cleared of all charges, his expensive life had cost him dearly…. Jackson would have bailed himself out financially with a comeback tour of 50 concerts at the O2 arena in London….

The shows, worth $50m … would have put him back on to the world stage…. It is debatable, of course, whether he had the same energy and zing with which he had set the stage alight when he was on top…. — (June 27)

[B][SIZE="4"][I]Pronouncements[/I][/SIZE][/B]

… HUMAN Rights Watch is pressing Jordan to adopt regulations spelling out the rights and duties of domestic workers, in the wake of the 2008 amendment to the labour legislation…. HRW claims that the ministry is late in adopting these additional regulations…. It says the ministry of labour should have concluded its consideration of the proposed regulations soon

after the adoption of the amendment to the labour law … in view of the … situation of domestic workers. … HRW cannot, in all fairness, prejudge the content of these regulations…. Furthermore, HRW could be trespassing on ILO jurisdiction, and those of various human rights bodies, by assuming that it knows all about the jurisprudence of these international organisations, pertaining to matters related to domestic workers.

HRW should refrain from passing judgment until the final picture is made clear … and ILO bodies have had a chance to give their opinion…. The only international bodies that are entitled to scrutinise Jordanian laws on workers’ rights and duties, including domestic helpers, are the UN human rights treaty bodies and the ILO.… — (June 29)

[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Anti-Taliban wave[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Friday, 03 Jul, 2009[/B]

THE results of an opinion poll on the US, Afghanistan and the conflict in Swat should come as no surprise. There is now a sea change in the attitude of Pakistanis towards the Taliban and the government’s belated crackdown on the insurgents. As the findings of the survey by the World Public Opinion Poll show, 81 per cent of Pakistanis think Al Qaeda and the Taliban are “a critical threat” to their country — phenomenally up from 47 per cent 18 months ago. This 18-month period has seen some crucial political and military developments. No wonder it has induced some reassessment of the situation on the people’s part. The biggest political development was the induction of an elected government last year and Pervez Musharraf’s departure from the scene in August. This in no small way served to create a national consensus on all vital issues, including the war on terror. In fact, Musharraf’s departure removed the unjustified apprehension that it was a war on terror on America’s behalf. That all the leading parties with parliamentary representation agreed to pursue the war on the Taliban with renewed vigour sent out a clear message to Pakistanis and the rest of the world that the government was serious about crushing the menace of terrorism at home and not allow its soil to be used for acts of terrorism elsewhere.

Another major factor has been the series of terror attacks that sent shock waves across the nation. These attacks are too numerous to recount, but there is no doubt some of them will live in memory to serve as a perpetual reminder of the militants’ terrorism. These attacks included the bombing of the Islamabad Marriott, killing 57 people; the attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore in March; and the murder of the renowned religious scholar Maulana Naeemi. This is in addition to what they have been doing for long — waging war on education, especially girls’, by blowing up schools and colleges, blasting mosques and funeral processions and beheading civilians and captured Pakistani soldiers.

Nevertheless, a lot remains to be done. The military operations against the rebels have produced results in Swat but there are challenges to be faced in South Waziristan and Kurram Agency. The government must build on the nation’s support and take the war on terror to its logical conclusion. It must also ensure that an effective political administration is installed in areas that have been cleared of the Taliban.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Need to move forward[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Friday, 03 Jul, 2009[/B]

IN an ideal scenario, Pakistan and India would be cooperating fully in the battle against militancy. Events both recent and age-old have not helped achieve that goal, however, and mistrust between the two remains high despite the odd statement of positive intent. New Delhi is upset that the reported masterminds of the Mumbai attacks have not been brought to book, perhaps ignoring concerns that recourse to the courts without a watertight case serves little purpose. The release from house arrest last month of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, head of the Jamaatud Dawa, allegedly a front for the Lashkar-i-Taiba, further aggravated the situation.

Ours is not a perfect world and ideal scenarios are hard to come by. But the least Indian officialdom can do is to ask itself one basic question: is it helping out or is it part of the problem? The fight against the Taliban cannot be brought to its logical conclusion without the sort of commitment that the Pakistan Army is currently showing. Pakistan’s military, it must be kept in mind, has been trained to see India as the conventional enemy and that outlook is unlikely to change any time soon. Yet, India persists with provocative moves that can only be counterproductive. On Wednesday, Washington assured New Delhi that it would be consulted “very closely” in the fight against extremism in South Asia. This followed a visit by Indian parliamentarians who asked the US to ensure that aid to Pakistan would not go towards buying weapons that could be used against India.

Surely we had put this behind us when ‘India-specific’ conditions were dropped from US plans to increase aid to Pakistan. Surely Pakistan’s displeasure with India’s growing influence in Afghanistan had been relayed all too clearly when Washington asked New Delhi to scale down its Jalalabad mission. So why regress instead of moving forward? Some positive gestures are in order at this critical stage. A scaling down of the Indian military presence along our mutual border would justify a much-needed deployment of Pakistani troops to the western frontier. Calling Islamabad’s commitment into question may reinforce India’s ‘case’ among Pakistan-bashers on Capitol Hill and in sections of the American media.

It will not, however, help win the war.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Practical democracy[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Friday, 03 Jul, 2009[/B]

SINDH Education Minister Pir Mazharul Haq has said that his department intends to include “democracy in the curriculum to educate future generations on the merits of democracy and the demerits of dictatorship”. It remains unclear whether the topic will be introduced as a stand-alone subject or be included in the curricula of existing examination subjects. Nevertheless, one hopes that practical experience helps its theoretical understanding. Given the country’s historical oscillation between democracy and dictatorship, and the cloudy issues plaguing governance, popular understanding likens democracy to a magic wand. Consider, for example, the criticism levelled against the current government for having failed to immediately resolve issues such as power generation. While no doubt the government must take responsibility for many such issues, a more nuanced understanding of democracy as an institutionalised system of governance is markedly absent.

Inculcating a true appreciation of the tenets of democracy will require much more than their inclusion in the school curricula. To understand why this system proves ultimately effective, the country’s leaders must lead by example; their democratic ideals must be reflected in their conduct. There have been too many failures on this count. Consider, for example, the shameful behaviour displayed recently by the PML-N’s Chaudhry Ghafoor and the PML-Q’s Bushra Gardezi in the Punjab Assembly. Both the provocation offered and the reaction were unparliamentary in nature; the episode constitutes an insult to the dignity of the legislative house. Similarly undemocratic and disruptive behaviour was witnessed in February, when legislators were denied entry into the Punjab Assembly building after the Supreme Court’s ruling against the Sharif brothers. For the nation to appreciate the logic of democracy, it must demonstrably be applied in its full meaning. Without an understanding of the characteristics of this system, politics in Pakistan will continue to be based on personalities rather than institutions, and democracy will remain a mere slogan.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - Pushto Press Karzai’s concerns[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Friday, 03 Jul, 2009 [/B]

PRESIDENT Hamid Karzai has expressed reservations about the US entering talks with the Taliban which he says his government should do in order to achieve lasting peace in Afghanistan. Karzai is of the opinion that peace talks cannot succeed unless his government is part of the whole process.

Karzai’s reservations about talks between the Taliban and the US are justified to a certain extent because the US does not enjoy the same credibility as the Afghanistan government when it comes to dealing with internal matters.

However, Karzai’s efforts to engage with the Taliban have been fruitless in the past. The Afghanistan government and the US have been stressing all along that talks should be held with the ‘moderate’ Taliban but it is hard to apply the term ‘moderate’ to the Taliban as they lead a movement and are a force to reckon with.

The Afghanistan government and the US should take steps which take into account the ground realities and wishes of the people. Instead of denying their failures in Afghanistan, they should accept them and talk to the Taliban addressing the militia’s genuine concerns. Unless they recognise the political and democratic rights of the Taliban, the latter cannot be defeated militarily. — (June 30)

Swat IDPs

THE majority of the 3.5 million people displaced by the military operation in Swat are those who owned large swathes of land, fruit orchards and decent houses in the beautiful valley. Now they live in tents in the sweltering heat, have no cold water to drink and no healthy food to eat.

Since they are not acclimatised to this kind of weather, a majority of them have fallen ill.…

Where is the foreign aid going as these people are still living in destitution? According to the prime minister, 95 per cent of the area in Swat and Buner has been cleared of the Taliban, while the NWFP government claims that electricity and gas supply has been restored in these areas and so the IDPs should return home.

But the IDPs have a point that first the government should move to these areas and establish peace camps there.

This is the only way they will return home. They ask that if there is actually peace in the conflict zones why do government officials go there in helicopters, scan the area and come back?

Firstly the government should reopen schools and offices in these areas only then can the IDPs return home. — (June 30)

[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Colossal task[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Monday, 06 Jul, 2009[/B]

AMERICA’S first special representative to Muslim communities has a singular job on her hands. Farah Pandith says her primary responsibility is to “know the next generation of [Muslim] thinkers.” She will, apparently, also be doing a lot of “listening” while focusing on creativity, respect and nuance. This brief is as vague and all-encompassing as Ms Pandith’s job title, as well as her debut public statement in which she eschewed specifics and made no mention of Kashmir or Palestine. True, engaging in dialogue, listening to diverse viewpoints and respecting cultural nuances are key first steps on the long road to mutual respect and conflict resolution. But the journey cannot and must not end with an image-building exercise. Words alone cannot undo the damage done by the follies and atrocities of the Bush era and the misguided policies of those who preceded him in the White House.

On the US domestic front, there are now grumblings even among some supporters that President Obama seems to be big on ideas and short on performance. Hopefully his new strategy of “reaching out” to the Muslim world will go beyond the conceptual and strive to bring about meaningful change on the ground. The task at hand is no doubt colossal. Anti-American sentiment may have reached fever pitch in the 21st century but the resentment felt by Muslims predates Mr Bush’s tenure by many decades. America’s unqualified military, economic and moral support for Israel despite the latter’s brutal treatment of Palestinians and illegal occupation of their lands is the primary reason why so many Muslims see the US with a jaundiced eye. Then there is Washington’s failure to take a principled stand on the freedom struggle in Kashmir and the reign of terror unleashed there in the shape of murder and rape by Indian forces. But the list doesn’t end there.

Washington’s support for dictators and monarchs in the Muslim world, who were and continue to be unanswerable to the people, has not gone unnoticed. The US lent staunch support to the Shah of Iran, a man who was out of touch with the reality of his country, cared only for self-aggrandisement and unleashed a reign of terror on dissidents. Authoritarians in Egypt have consistently enjoyed American backing. In Pakistan, the US has put its money and weight behind military dictators — from Ayub and Zia to Musharraf — who have collectively brought this country to the brink of ruin. America has also been accused of pandering to monarchies in oil-rich countries where people can’t vote and women are denied basic rights. Policies must change. Listening alone will achieve nothing.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Lahore’s half-dug roads[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Monday, 06 Jul, 2009[/B]

EVERY year around this time, newspapers carry reports warning citizens of the hazards that half-dug roads pose during the rainy season. There are comments on the administrative and financial factors that lead to such a mess, and politicians vow that it will not happen again. But come the monsoons and we are at it again. Half of Lahore, it seems, is commuting on the edge of less-than-half-built roads dotted with trenches, uncarpeted pebbly patches and mounds of mud. Most of the digging is done for the numerous rainwater drains being built in many localities. But residents in many of these areas complain that the construction of these drains is, in fact, behind schedule and is aggravating civic problems, making their solution a distant dream. The rains, as and when they come, will certainly flood a large number of neighbourhoods, with incomplete drains doing little or nothing to take the rainwater away.

Wasn’t it supposed to be different this time round? Hadn’t Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif promised the residents of Lahore a trouble-free monsoon last time they had their roads submerged and drainage choked? Weren’t the city government departments warned by him that they would be answerable for any inconvenience that the rains might cause to the people? The way things stand today, it is highly likely that in the coming weeks we will once again see the chief minister wading in knee-deep water and admonishing the authorities for their inefficiency. But this will hardly fix the problem, nor will any piecemeal approach that aims at building a drain here and a pumping station there. Lahore requires a new rainwater drainage system — not just in a couple of localities but across the entire length and breadth of the city. Any measure short of that will not resolve the problem.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Domestic violence[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Monday, 06 Jul, 2009[/B]

A MONITORING exercise conducted by the law firm AGHS shows that from April to June this year, 122 cases of women being burnt were reported in Lahore. Of them, 21 women had acid burns while the rest were injured by direct exposure to flames. Forty victims died. Disturbingly, the figures have doubled as compared to the first quarter of the year. These cases constitute merely the tip of the frightening iceberg of violence against Pakistan’s women. The figures reported above apply to Lahore but are unlikely to be lower in other parts of the country. Indeed, one wonders how many cases go unreported. The forms of coercion range from emotional and economic abuse to gross violations of constitutional and human rights, including rape, burning and being handed over as settlement in disputes. Last year, at least two women were believed to have been buried alive in Balochistan. That a sitting parliamentarian defended the act as a ‘tribal custom’ reflects just how endemic violence against women has become in the country.

It is important to note that much of the violence against women, particularly in the domestic sphere, goes unreported. Legislation in this regard, meanwhile, has been indefensibly slow. Work on formulating a bill at the federal level against domestic violence was first initiated in December 2006. Two private members’ bills were combined and approved by the National Assembly’s standing committee on women’s development in April 2007. The assembly’s term lapsed before the bill could be passed, however. In March this year, the National Assembly’s standing committee on women’s development unanimously approved the Prevention of Domestic Violence Bill 2008. But little further progress has been reported so far.

That violence against women continues to rise is perhaps symptomatic of the steady brutalisation that Pakistani society has suffered over the past many decades. It is imperative that effective legislation be devised to not only protect women against abuse, both domestic and otherwise, but also bring the persecutors to book. Treating violence against women, including domestic abuse, as a crime will give protection to victims in meaningful terms.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - North American Press 10 years, 430 dams[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Monday, 06 Jul, 2009[/B]

TEN years have gone by since a modest but important moment in American environmental history: the dismantling of the 917-foot-wide Edwards Dam on Maine’s Kennebec River.

The Edwards Dam was the first privately owned hydroelectric dam torn down for environmental reasons … by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. … the interior secretary at the time, showed up at the demolition ceremony to promote what had become a personal crusade against obsolete dams. The publicity generated a national discussion about dams and the potential environmental benefits of removing them.

It certainly helped the Kennebec and its fish, and dams have been falling ever since. According to American Rivers, an advocacy group and a major player in the Edwards Dam campaign, about 430 outdated dams (some of them small hydropower dams like Edwards) have been removed with both public and private funding.

More lies ahead. Three dams that have severely damaged salmon runs in Washington State are scheduled to come down in 2011. A tentative agreement has been reached among farmers, native tribes and a power company to remove dams on California’s Klamath River, the site of a huge fish kill several years ago attributed mainly to low water flows caused by dams.

Maine, where this all began, will be the site of a spectacular restoration project. Under an agreement, two dams will be removed and a fish ladder built at a third to open up 1,000 miles of the Penobscot River and its tributaries so that fish can return to their traditional spawning grounds.

A half-dozen species should benefit, including endangered Atlantic salmon. The federal government has now imposed “critical habitat” protections in nine Maine rivers….

NOAA’s heightened interest in Atlantic salmon has raised hopes that it may now take aggressive … steps to protect salmon on the West Coast by ordering the removal of four big dams on the Lower Snake River. — (July 3)

[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Judicial policy[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Tuesday, 07 Jul, 2009[/B]

IF implemented in letter and spirit, the Islamabad Declaration issued on Sunday could change Pakistan’s judicial scene, though one shouldn’t underestimate the challenging nature of the task. An operation to salvage the judiciary — its very image — was long overdue, for all constitutional institutions had sunk to such depths that the very idea of the rule of law appeared in danger of extinction. The restoration of the chief justice and the reinstatement of all those judges who had not taken the oath under the PCO promulgated by decree on Nov 3, 2007, will be regarded by history as milestones in the long road which the nation followed to establish the principle of judicial independence. Against this background the series of decisions taken on Sunday by a conference of judges and leading lawyers to implement the National Judicial Policy deserve to be welcomed, especially where they concern the judges’ social interaction, the need for clearing the backlog of undecided cases and removing corruption by holding the adjudicators accountable for their assets.

Clearing the backlog of cases is not an easy task, because there are 1.6 million cases pending. The reasons the conference gave for this huge number of pending cases include manpower shortage, the “scattered location” of courts, and loadshedding. While the first two points can be addressed by administrative action, there is little the courts can do about the third point. It is a national problem and seemingly unsolvable. The conference correctly noted that the implementation of the NJP was not possible without full commitment to it by the bench, the bar and the relevant government agencies. A representative of the bar also spoke of “incompetent judges” in reference to the oaths taken under the PCO and considered them an obstacle to the NJP’s implementation. One would like to caution all sides that the legal community has to stand by the principles it has been advocating publicly and act in a way that doesn’t smack of witch-hunting. The bench and the bar must look to the future and begin a new chapter in our judicial history instead of raking up the sordid past.


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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Expensive ‘gifts’[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Tuesday, 07 Jul, 2009[/B]

PERVEZ Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz are very rich men. Yet, according to a series of revelations in The News, neither man could resist the temptation to leave office with hundreds of gifts presented to him by various heads of state and other officials during his tenure. The presents — everything from luxury watches to expensive handicrafts to exquisite jewellery — have a market value of tens of millions of rupees, but, according to obscure rules governing the claims to such gifts, were valued at a song and duly carted off by Gen Musharraf and Mr Aziz after paying a pittance. Rules may or may not have been broken, but, politically and morally, it looks very bad — yet another instance of the rich and the powerful in Pakistan making off with booty. There is absolutely no doubt what needs to be done: the gifts, each and every one of them, must be returned, they must be valued transparently and, if the rules allow it, the two must pay the fair price for whatever they want to purchase. Anything less and the stench of ‘legal’ corruption will not go away.

Will that happen? The former president and prime minister have kept quiet thus far, perhaps hoping that the furore will die down and they will continue to be able to live in comfort surrounded, perhaps, by their cheaply acquired expensive knick-knacks. They may even feel aggrieved for being ‘targeted’ and ‘victimised’. But the only ones who have a right to feel aggrieved are the luckless people of Pakistan. Gen Musharraf and Mr Aziz were supposed to be different; they were supposed to be clean in office; they were supposed to have been a decisive break from ‘dirty’ politicians. But it seems they were in fact all too willing to climb into the mud and have a good time.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Bloody childhoods[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Tuesday, 07 Jul, 2009[/B]

THE easiest, and now customary, escape from tackling felonies as heinous as child rape is to pour scorn on depraved elements, offer compensation to their prey and move on, burying both the crime and punishment. In some incidents, these last rites involve a real burial such as that of three-year-old Sana who was allegedly raped and murdered by two police constables after she went missing last week. However, a true confrontation involves a battle with the state as it is a virtual accomplice in terminating countless childhoods — civil society’s long and seemingly endless struggle to have the Child Protection Bill endorsed by parliament continues.

The ‘law’ will shield innocent lives by preserving child rights and protection; a subject almost alien to the lower classes. The great contradiction remains the fact that Pakistan enjoys the status of being one of the first 20 countries that sanctioned the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1990. It can be asked then, that, as the authority responsible makes five-year reports on its implementation to the UN committee on child rights mandatory, what the state has to say for its children, and secondly, why the delay in the enactment of the bill into law has not been condemned by international bodies. Also, it is the government’s duty to overhaul the almost non-existent forensic and medico-legal facilities so vital to the dispensation of justice.

Regrettably, there is precious little to not only prevent but to assuage the wounds of despicable offences. Child victims and their hapless families often face a long, arduous road to justice and recovery. The most destructive consequence is that child abuse breeds future offenders as the child and his/her family grapple with the sense of violation without help such as counselling by qualified personnel who visit the home. This can prevent aftermaths including depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and fractured adult relationships. Lamentably, little Sana’s case threatens to be yet another police crime; and if the perpetrators go scot-free, it may once again see the public taking the law into its own hands as it did this time. The journey to justice becomes all the more onerous and perilous when it involves its own ‘custodians’. After all, how long can an impoverished family hold out against criminals who may be members of the police and what mechanism ensures that the police department will not do all it can to wash its hands of Sana’s blood? It is this helplessness that spawns mob justice — it would do the authorities some good to bear previous gory incidents of mob fury in mind.


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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - Sindhi Press Democracy linked to dispensation of justice[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Tuesday, 07 Jul, 2009[/B]


CHIEF Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry while addressing the Judicial Policy Council linked change in society to the supremacy of law and economic development. Undoubtedly democratic institutions play a fundamental role in the development of a society but the judiciary has to ensure speedy justice. Strengthening of democracy and the dispensation of justice are two major issues Pakistan needs to deal with. In order to do so we have to critically assess our political history, upon which the role of the establishment in suppressing the democratic rights of the people becomes quite clear.

The people of Pakistan have continued their struggle for the restoration of their political and democratic rights but the establishment has repeatedly thwarted the democratic process. It has managed to find elements which raised their voice for the people but were in fact tools of the establishment.

This made the leadership dependent on the establishment and their roles became intertwined. At times elected government under public pressure successfully made pro-people decisions but such decisions were not acceptable to the establishment. No wonder then that military dictators who had little knowledge about political affairs were able to impose their decisions on the people. Dictators suit the establishment.

The establishment has not favoured the supremacy of law. It has hindered the evolution of the political and judicial system creating a trust deficit among the people. Gen Musharraf with the collaboration of the establishment reduced the independence of the judiciary. Judges, including the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, were arrested which made people feel helpless. It was only when an elected government came to power that there was a chance to undo the damage done to the judiciary. The judiciary’s role is important for creating confidence among the people for sustainable democracy.

The country is in dire need for an independent, effective and efficient system of justice which addresses the problems of the people and safeguards their rights. Hence a difficult task lies ahead for the judiciary. Surely the dispensation of justice is the key to strengthening democracy and putting an end to the class-based system. — (July 3)

[B][I]Selected and translated by Sohail Sangi[/I][/B]