Enter Russia

WITH Russia now playing an active military role in Syria, it is difficult to say what direction this bloody conflict will take.

On Wednesday, reports emerged that Moscow had conducted its first air strikes inside Syria after Bashar al-Assad had requested Russian military help to fight the self-styled Islamic State.

Expectedly, the reaction from many Western officials has been circumspect; a US-led coalition has also been carrying out anti-IS air strikes for the past year while purposely keeping the Syrian regime out of the loop.


Throughout the Syrian civil war, which has now entered its fifth year, Russia — along with Iran — has been the Assad regime’s principal foreign backer as Damascus has fought a brutal campaign against an opposition dominated by extremist outfits, including IS.

At the same time, it is also true that Russia has strategic interests in Syria as it maintains a naval facility at Tartus, giving Moscow access to Mediterranean waters.

Clearly, the Russians appear serious about their anti-IS campaign, as they have recently cemented an intelligence-sharing deal with Iran, Iraq and Syria to target the self-declared caliphate. Russian media has also reported that China is sending ‘military advisers’ to Syria.

The million-dollar question here is: how will the Western bloc and its allies — including Turkey and the Gulf Arabs — react to Russia’s entry into the Syrian theatre?

After all, while the West and its coalition partners oppose IS, they have no love lost for Bashar al-Assad either and publicly advocate regime change in Damascus.

In fact, over the past few days there was clear disagreement over the Syrian question at the UN between Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin: while Mr Putin said the best way to defeat IS was to strengthen Mr Assad’s hand, Mr Obama favoured a ‘minus-Assad’ formula.

While the Syrian regime and the rebels have both indulged in atrocities during the course of the civil war — which has been dragging on since March 2011 — and indeed while Mr Assad is no democrat, is regime change a viable option?

Washington and its allies should study the recent history of Iraq and Libya: while Saddam Hussein and Muammar Qadhafi were brutal dictators, their ouster via external intervention resulted in the virtual collapse of the Iraqi and Libyan states. Nations must have an organic relationship with democracy; it cannot be implanted from abroad.

The way forward in Syria would be for all regional and global powers — under UN aegis and keeping the Syrian government on board — to combine forces to dismantle IS. Once this is achieved, a negotiated settlement to the Syrian conflict should be the goal, bringing the Assad regime and the democratic Syrian opposition to the table to work out a solution.

Already, as per UN figures over 250,000 people have died in this conflict, while over four million have fled abroad. Without a peaceful settlement, the Syrian people’s nightmare will only continue.

Published in Dawn October 1st, 2015

IMF assessment

THE short statement released by the IMF board following the eighth review of the ongoing Fund programme is better understood for all the things it does not say.

Take as an example the board’s view of the fiscal situation, which has been the subject of much controversy lately within the country.

The board does not say that the fiscal situation has improved, preferring to restrict itself to an anodyne comment that “[t]he authorities’ commitment to strengthening Pakistan’s fiscal position is welcome”. It goes on to add that further steps “remain key” to delivering on this commitment, laying out the usual recipe of “broadening the tax base and strengthening tax administration”.


The inability of the board to note anything more than a “commitment” to strengthening the fiscal framework is what should be noted.

Likewise with the progress on many other fronts. It notes an improvement in the foreign exchange reserves, but says “additional efforts are needed”.

Similarly, on central bank autonomy, the board calls for the “early adoption of pending legislation”, a matter that has been dragging for many years now. Also with the required amendments to the anti-money laundering legislation, which the government had committed would be passed by the end of September, the board notes that it “remains an important policy priority for the authorities”.

The statement refuses to view the controversy surrounding the fiscal numbers declared by the government at the end of June, which is to be expected. But the more detailed review documents that should be released soon would be deficient if they did not tell us more about how the Fund is looking at this affair.

The board has placed its priorities for Pakistan on record; these include power-sector reforms and privatisation. The fact that the board said very little about the external sector and the quality of the improvement in the reserves as well as rising external debt is an important gap.

At its core, the Fund’s main priority is to ensure Pakistan’s creditworthiness before external creditors, but this is an important area of concern domestically, especially given the continuing Eurobond issues this fiscal year, and more should have been said about it beyond “additional efforts are needed to strengthen external buffers”.

Does the growing resort to borrowing count as such “additional efforts”, or is it in fact weakening the external framework over the medium term? Sadly, we are left to guess for ourselves.

Published in Dawn October 1st, 2015

Law and lawyers

THE law in Pakistan is sometimes far from safe in the hands of lawyers.

A section of the country’s legal fraternity — notwithstanding a number of courageous and upright individuals within its midst — has evolved into a formidable pressure group and many of its members have, time and again, thought nothing of flouting even fundamental rights to achieve their objectives.

Their tactics have ranged from threats and coercion to blatant thuggery. Sometimes, aside from regular citizens, their own colleagues are the target of their ire.

At the Lahore High Court on Tuesday, for instance, a group of lawyers protested against Supreme Court advocates Dr Khalid Ranjha and Asma Jahangir for representing the MQM in a case against the media blackout of party chief Altaf Hussain ordered by the LHC last month.

The protesters, who said that the MQM was behind the murder of several lawyers in 2007 during the movement for the restoration of the judiciary, demanded that the lawyers’ licences be cancelled.

Defence by legal representation of one’s choice is constitutionally guaranteed and considered an essential pillar of the right to fair trial.

For their part, lawyers should be able to represent whomsoever they wish without fear of repercussions on a personal or professional level. Their right to do so, however, is far from sacrosanct.

When it comes to ‘crimes against religion’, for example, some lawyers themselves harbour contempt for due process.

Advocate Rashid Rehman was threatened by his own colleagues for defending a blasphemy accused, and was later murdered — the case remains unsolved.

There is also reportedly an unwritten consensus in some local bar associations that if a lawyer is party to a case, no lawyer from that bar — at the risk of severe censure — will represent the opposing side.

In the present instance, Dr Ranjha and Ms Jahangir are defending a basic tenet of democracy — freedom of speech — that everyone, including the MQM, is entitled to, regardless of their politics. The two lawyers should be commended for placing principles above narrow, parochial interests.

Published in Dawn October 1st, 2015

Source: http://www.dawn.com/authors/2677/editorial

Regulating INGOs

INTERIOR Minister Nisar Ali Khan had suggested that the new policy to register International Non-Governmental Organisations and regulate their activities would be tough but fair — and on Thursday he announced a set of measures that clearly lived up to the former. Whether they will be fairly implemented is something that only experience will tell. ‹ The problem with the government’s interest in imposing a new regulatory framework on the INGOs was less that the state is not entitled to do so — it clearly is and all entities working with the public should be regulated — but its apparent motives in doing so. The fiasco over Save the Children, the INGO whose operations were to be shut down for vague official reasons, but whose real sin was believed to have been an alleged link to Dr Shakeel Afridi, had suggested that the real purpose behind the new regulations was to be able to circumscribe any activities of INGOs that the security establishment was not comfortable with. Also read: Over two dozen INGOs access online registration site Consider that the interior minister has now stipulated that INGOs will not indulge in money laundering, terror financing, weapons smuggling, anti-state activities or maintain links with proscribed organisations. If any of that has indeed been a problem in the past, it would be a very serious violation.

The right course of action would be to publicly proceed against such organisations for violating the law and bring it to the attention of the global community of INGOs. But there has been no evidence provided by the government of any such activity. Instead, there have been allusions to INGOs operating outside their official remit and in areas that are allegedly sensitive. In the real world, that is often code for working with vulnerable communities in areas that are affected by the kind of militancy and violence that the state considers a challenge. The problem is that areas hit by violence and militancy are often precisely the type of places where vulnerable populations reside — and that is often the very purpose of INGOs: to reach people that the state is unable to help or unwilling to prioritise assistance towards. Ultimately, for true security in a multidimensional sense, there must be a balance between people-centric security and a militarised version of it. Not only do INGOs often provide valuable assistance to the most vulnerable people, they also act as a bridge to the international community. Pakistan needs to engage with the outside world rather than cut itself off from it. In some cases, the new regulations turn on its head the real security dilemma: it is INGOs and their international staff that are often at threat from extremist elements in society here.
In treating INGOs with such suspicion while disregarding their real security issue, the government will make it even more difficult for them to operate in this climate. Common sense and compassion are needed to guide policy.

UAE labour reform

MILLIONS of migrant workers from South Asia, including Pakistan, work on construction sites and in other sectors of Gulf sheikhdoms in order to support their families. Yet, these migrant workers lead less than ideal lives and are often subjected to exploitation by local employers, and have few options for reporting abuse. However, as reported recently, the United Arab Emirates has taken steps that — if implemented in earnest — may improve the conditions for foreign workers.
These changes, due to take effect from Jan 1, would make job terms and contracts more transparent, while also providing options for breaking contracts and changing employers.
Across most of the Gulf, foreign workers are employed under the kafala system; in many instances, this virtually makes them the property of their employers — with hardly any rights and widespread chances of abuse. Hopefully, the changes proposed by the UAE authorities will be adopted in letter and spirit; other Gulf states should also attempt similar progressive changes to improve conditions for their foreign workers. In actuality, what is needed is a change of mindset in these states; instead of being treated like chattel, foreign workers must be given respect and due rights, in accordance with international labour conventions. Organisations such as the International Trade Union Confederation have been highly critical of the Gulf states’ attitudes towards foreign workers. In the UAE, working conditions have at times deteriorated so much that labourers have taken to the streets — an unusual and a brave move as protest is not tolerated in the Gulf. Payment of wages can be delayed while living conditions for blue-collar workers are quite appalling. Living far from home and in deplorable conditions, it is easy to understand how workers’ patience can boil over. Qatar has also been criticised as reportedly hundreds of migrant workers have died over the past few years as the sheikhdom experiences a building boom in preparation for the 2022 football World Cup.

Thanks largely to their wealth by way of the petrodollar, the Gulf states seek everything that defines the modern world: skyscrapers, cavernous malls, state-of-the-art airports and all the other trappings of modernity.

Yet they must realise that along with the infrastructure they seek to replicate, they should also consider the rights most Western states have given to working people. It is about time that the men who toiled to build the modern Gulf metropolises are given their due.

Rangers’ hour

GIVEN its vast reach, radio has often been the most practical means of connecting with the people. A certain mullah even became a cult personality in Swat some years ago on the strength of his radio broadcasts.
But while religious figures frequently use the airwaves to increase the size of their flock, it is not often that one hears of a paramilitary force taking to that medium to communicate with citizens. But then, nothing is beyond the energetic custodians of the law in Karachi, the Pakistan Rangers Sindh. Senior officials of the force are set to be on air twice a day, five days a week on an FM radio show called Rangers’ Hour to engage with residents of the city who can call in with suggestions or to lodge complaints. Four years ago, the Rangers had set up a helpline for citizens but this is the first time they are venturing into such a mode of interaction. Governance, like nature, abhors a vacuum. And it is in a vacuum of governance that the Rangers have expanded their footprint. When the Karachi operation began in September 2013, the federal paramilitary force had a clearcut mandate — to purge the metropolis of terrorist
holding its citizenry hostage.
Over time, however, the force broadened its ambit — with the overt support of the military — to tackle militant wings of political parties as well as white-collar crime, thereby stepping on some very sensitive toes in the provincial government and the opposition. Fierce allegations ensued from the affected quarters that the Rangers were exceeding their authority and “violating provincial autonomy”. Sadly, the sound and fury was largely about selfpreservation, and many citizens of Pakistan’s largest city — witness to the brazen loot and plunder of its resources by those who should have been its custodians — are likely to resoundingly welcome the paramilitary’s foray into ‘solving’ their problems, with nary a thought for the decay of civil institutions that lies therein. It seems as if every day is Rangers’ day in Karachi.

Published in Dawn October 3rd, 2015

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"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling ,but in rising every time we fall". (Nelson Mandela)

Dossiers on India

FOR many years, the Pakistani state has alleged — sometimes credibly, sometimes seemingly less so — that India is involved in stoking violence and terrorism inside Pakistan. Of particular concern have been Balochistan over the last decade, Fata and Khyber Pakthunkhwa for several years now, and Karachi for at least a couple of decades. Never before, however, has the state here tried to formally substantiate its allegations. That changed this week with the handover to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s office of three dossiers containing evidence of Indian involvement in Karachi, Balochistan and Fata. The dossiers were originally to be handed over to Indian officials, but after the cancellation of the NSA talks and with no meeting transpiring on the sidelines of the UNGA, the Pakistani government appears to have decided to take up the matter with the world body itself.

It is hoped, especially since the dossiers are to form the basis of a renewed push by Pakistan to internationalise its troubles and disputes with India, that there is indeed substantive and serious evidence contained in the documents. While the outside world, and global powers in particular, have been courting the Indian market, and India has been ramping up its diplomatic ties with the world, the fact is that as a nuclear region, potential conflict between India and Pakistan is a continuing worry for the global community. As such, bringing to light evidence of Indian attempts to destabilise Pakistan, a country already wracked by many hues of militant violence, could possibly galvanise international attention towards the continuing and dangerous tensions in this region. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policy of effectively not talking to Pakistan is perhaps as much a danger today as the threat posed by non-state actors — when the state itself closes the door on dialogue, all manner of hawkish and non-state elements in both countries tend to get mobilised.

Fortunately, the handover of the dossiers has not led the Pakistani government to also shut the door on dialogue. As Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz reiterated, his government prefers to address all issues through dialogue. But what last week’s events — be it the prime minister’s meetings with world leaders; the four points mooted by him in his UNGA address; or the dossier-related actions — do not amount to is a coherent plan for any kind of forward movement. If anything, the petulant reaction of the Indian government to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s four points suggests that bilateral tensions are unlikely to subside or dissipate anytime soon. Perhaps, though, in the meantime, the Pakistani side can work on bringing the various institutional actors on the same page when it comes to its India policy. The gap between the approaches of the civilian government and the military establishment is noticeable — and wholly unwelcome.

Musharraf’s talk

IT seems that our infatuation with ‘saviours’ in uniform remains unwavering, even after the uniform has long been set aside. So it is with retired Gen Pervez Musharraf who has been holding forth on several forums and, in the process, burnishing the argument for the military’s apparently ‘reluctant-but-necessary’ foray into politics. Delivering a talk in Karachi titled ‘Pakistan’s past, present and future’, the former president spoke of how during his own tenure he had refrained from imposing martial law and instead introduced a civilian-run system watched over by the military so that civilians could be prodded to deliver; “there are no angels in Pakistan,” he said.

It is regrettable that our military has yet to realise that its hand on the wheel, both overt and otherwise, can only take the ship of state off-course. Each khaki intervention — invariably on the pretext of ‘saving the country’ — has progressively undermined political institutions to a point where civilian misrule has become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and the denunciation of the democratic system a national pastime. The unvarnished truth is that democracy has never been allowed to take root in this country; elections have been manipulated and governments destabilised; and many of the so-called political mafias have flourished with the encouragement of the establishment that has used them for its own cynical purposes. There are indeed no ‘angels’ in this country, as Mr Musharraf pointed out — but that is not only true of the civilians. At the same time, it must be said that the political class has contributed in full measure to its own degradation by its flagrant disregard for the needs and aspirations of the people. Moreover, the judiciary — the upholders of the law and Constitution — has more often than not through Pakistan’s history, given legal cover to interruptions in the democratic process instead of strengthening its institutional underpinnings. Lastly, the media — divided and corporatised — has also taken the path of least resistance instead of exploring the long-term, corrosive effects of military ‘oversight’.

Throwing it away?

THE purpose behind privatisation, we have always been told, is that the state should not be in the business of running commercial enterprises. When the state does so not only does the enterprise run inefficiently, it also incurs tremendous costs in the form of subsidies and miscellaneous liquidity injections — costs that ultimately place an unbearable burden on a fiscally strapped government. This was the thinking behind privatisation, and in the name of this belief, successive governments have been selling state-run enterprises for almost a quarter of a century now. The process stalled when the Supreme Court intervened to halt the sale of Pakistan Steel Mill in a famous judgement 10 years ago, and all we have seen since then are divestment of shares in a few enterprises.

For better or for worse, the process is supposed to begin anew with a series of privatisations scheduled for this year in the power sector, and most importantly, a renewed commitment from the government to sell Pakistan Steel. However, an odd proposal has come up, and strangely enough, it is being entertained. The decision by the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation to offer the beleaguered steel mill to the Sindh government violates every tenet of the philosophy that lies behind privatisation. Does the Sindh government have a good track record of running commercial enterprises, or steel mills? Does it have the capacity to turn the enterprise around? All along we have been told that privatisation is not about jettisoning state assets simply to relieve government expenses, it is also about finding a credible buyer who will not strip the entity of its assets but will make the necessary investments to return it to profitability. It is a little perplexing how the cabinet committee decided that the Sindh government makes for a credible investor given its image and the absence of a track record in running manufacturing enterprises. The deal is likely to inject new life into the impression that the current spate of privatisations scheduled for the year has motivations beyond the original philosophy. In order for this deal to be transparent and credible, the government needs to explain how the provincial government of Sindh is better suited to run the steel mill than the federal government, what sort of a turnaround plan exists, and whether or not the province possesses the fiscal strength to make the investments necessary for the process.

Source: Editorials
Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2015

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The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion !

Bias in textbooks


TO create a more tolerant and inclusive society, it is essential that textbooks contain lessons that foster a spirit of unity rather than fuel divisions.

However, as experts pointed out at a seminar on the curriculum held in Islamabad recently, textbooks of both public and private educational institutions in Pakistan contain material that promotes prejudice.

As one participant of the programme put it, our books did not reflect “love, respect or plurality”, and highlighted divisions instead.

There is, of course, much merit in what the academics highlighted, as Pakistan was a relatively more tolerant place several decades ago than it is today. While the rise of and the free rein given to extremist religious groups in the country has had a role to play in making society less tolerant, the state is largely to blame for promoting a narrow, exclusivist ideology through textbooks.

For instance, it is often pointed out that Pakistan Studies lessons can be problematic in their narrative of the Pakistan Movement; in many cases Hindus are demonised as a community in our textbooks while describing the background of Partition.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administration — under the previous Awami National Party government — tried, for example, to interpret the Pakistan Movement in a more progressive and less exclusivist manner. Yet these efforts were reversed when the PTI came to power in 2013, reportedly at the behest of the Jamaat-i-Islami, the party’s coalition partner in the province.

Another issue of concern is that of making non-Muslim students study Islamic material, especially in primary classes.

While Pakistan is a Muslim-majority state, it also has people of other faiths living within its borders, which is why it is unfair to make non-Muslim students memorise Islamic prayers or learn the majority population’s religious rituals.

Perhaps the key to reforming the system and inculcating more tolerant values in our textbooks lies with the provinces, as they have the power to interpret the curriculum.

Textbooks must be purged of all material that promotes hate against any religion, sect or nation and the goal must be to impart lessons that will aid the intellectual growth of students, not make them merely regurgitate ideological slogans.

Moreover, textbook-writing should be the domain purely of subject specialists and must be free from political meddling.

There is much that is wrong with our education system; one essential area that can help set it right is to promote a progressive curriculum that favours peace over bigotry.


Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2015

THE performance of the Pakistan women cricketers against their Bangladesh counterparts in the recent home series deserves high praise. The national women’s team, under the astute leadership of Sana Mir, won all the four matches including the two T20 games and two ODIs to yet again prove their supremacy over their Asian rivals. Young middle-order player Bismah Maroof and spinner Anum Ameen stood out during the matches, all of which were held in Karachi. The credit for the series primarily goes to the Bangladesh Cricket Board which sent its women’s team here following foolproof security assurances from the Pakistan Cricket Board. Besides being competitive, the incident-free matches in the series have greatly helped to strengthen a positive image of Pakistan in matters of security and sport.

With international matches not a very frequent event for Pakistan’s women cricketers until early this year, things were not looking up. However, with the world cricket governing body, the ICC, issuing women’s cricket rankings for the first time ever this month, the picture is slowly changing for the better now. The launch of the new rankings underscores the ICC’s long-term commitment to investing, incentivising, promoting and publicising women’s cricket — in fact there has been a substantial increase in public interest and participation, as well as a marked improvement in the standard of the international game. Sana Mir’s charges are now all set to tour the West Indies next week for a full series comprising seven games. On its way back from the Caribbean, the Pakistani women’s team shall visit the United States to play two friendly T20 matches which will give the players valuable experience ahead of the Women’s T20 World Cup lined up in India next year. Placed sixth in the international rankings, the women cricket team’s recent success against Bangladesh will hold them in good stead during the tough assignments ahead. The talent and drive are there. The cricketers now need the wholehearted and consistent support of the PCB to thrive internationally.


A SENSE of déjà vu is becoming inescapable when reading the IMF reviews of Pakistan’s ongoing programme. The latest review documents, released earlier in the week, read just like the previous review. The government is still struggling to implement its privatisation agenda and restructure public-sector enterprises, still talking about a plan to reduce the circular debt while relying on power surcharges to meet debt-service costs, still debating the passage of amendments to upgrade the Anti Money Laundering Act, and still making promises to pass legislation to enhance central bank independence. One thing that the staff review, followed up by the conference call with the mission chief, has done is to address the questions around the deficit numbers from last fiscal year. However, this is increasingly looking like a pointless controversy. The fund team says they have taken a close look at the numbers and adjusted deficit upwards by 0.1pc of GDP, adding that “we do not have any evidence of intentional wrongdoing on the side of the authorities”. Beyond intentional wrongdoing, the whole controversy becomes little more than a debate around accounting conventions.

A new element in the review is the discussion of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Significantly, the Fund has poured a bucket of cold water on the expectation that implementation of the CPEC projects will drive growth.
Any demand-driven economic expansion as a result of project implementation is expected to be limited,” the report says, since investment is likely to be offset by higher imports. The growth prospects resulting from CPEC will come later, once the infrastructure is in place and able to support a higher level of economic activity. That crucially hinges on the larger macroeconomic environment and how conducive it is to supporting investment and growth. Moreover, proper implementation of the projects, which includes managing the risks contained within them, will be crucial, and here too the government’s track record is weak. But with only one more year left to go for the programme, the impression is that the government is struggling with the structural reform agenda. Some successes have indeed been scored, like the interest rate corridor implemented by the State Bank or the legislation for the Credit Information Bureau; but these, in a sense, are the low-hanging fruit. The real test comes with the mammoth privatisations, and broadening of the tax base, and in those areas the successes have yet to come.



AFTER a two-month absence from the Senate, the National Assembly and the Sindh Assembly, the path has seemingly been cleared for the MQM’s return to these august houses. Following various ups and downs, the federal government and the MQM announced on Friday the signing of a ‹ memorandum of understanding that will lead to the setting up of a grievances redressal committee to look into the Muttahida’s complaints about the actions taken by the law enforcers in Karachi. This was a key MQM demand standing in the way of the party’s return to the elected houses. In particular, the party wants its grievances, related to alleged extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, addressed.


The development shows that better sense has prevailed on both the government and the MQM, and that the path of rigidity has been abandoned in favour of political maturity. The two-year-old operation in Karachi has yielded results and violence has come down. However, throughout this period the MQM has raised serious objections about the alleged abduction, torture and killing of its workers and sympathisers at the hands of the law enforcers. While action must be taken against all militant and criminal elements in Karachi — regardless of their political linkages — it should remain within the bounds of the law and fundamental rights. Hence the Muttahida’s genuine grievances must be addressed by the state so that the operation is free of accusations of bias and highhandedness.
Looking at the bigger picture, the MQM’s return to parliament should be accompanied by some serious introspection — the party would do well to review its mistakes over the past three decades. Indeed, the MQM is a political reality in much of urban Sindh — a fact that must be acknowledged by both Islamabad and Rawalpindi — and arguably still enjoys a considerable vote bank despite its fluctuating fortunes of late. Yet it is also true that for long, the party has tolerated a militant wing within its ranks and used clearly undemocratic methods — enforced shutdowns, forcible collection of ‘donations’ etc — to establish its strength on Karachi’s streets. A clean break from such unsavoury activities is now advisable. To its credit, the party has worked for the civic uplift of Karachi, and has the ability to make use of its roots within urban communities to push forward a transparent development agenda as the only ‘weapon’ to win over the electorate. With local government elections in Karachi due in December, the focus will hopefully be on electioneering for the third tier of government. Will the local leadership rise to the occasion? With Altaf Hussain — the party supremo who is facing a money-laundering investigation in the UK — the MQM’s Pakistan-based leadership ought to be ready to take decisions should events so dictate. The Muttahida has plenty of seasoned hands within its ranks that are able to steer the ship in case it runs into choppy waters.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2015
Editorial
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"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling ,but in rising every time we fall". (Nelson Mandela)

BY their very nature, by-elections tend to be quiet affairs, with relatively muted campaigns and below average voter turnout. But not all by-elections are equal. Yesterday, three seats were contested in Punjab. However, the only one that appeared to matter nationally was NA122 in Lahore. The reasons are fairly obvious: NA-122 was one of the four seats that the PTI had insisted was rigged in May 2013; the loser in the general election was Imran Khan; and the winner, Ayaz Sadiq, was rewarded for his 2013 success with the office of the speaker of the National Assembly.

All of that meant that there was intense interest, hysteria even, surrounding the Lahore by-election. So intense, in fact, that the only close approximation to yesterday’s events was the April by-election in NA-246, the MQM stronghold in Karachi that was retained by the party in unprecedented circumstances. Given all the hype, therefore, it was only right that yesterday attention turned to the voter himself and the will of the people.

› The trend in the two National Assembly seats contested yesterday appear to be in line with pre-election speculation. The Okara result, where independent candidate Riazul Haq Juj appeared in the lead, would be shaped primarily by local factors — and the inability of the PTI, PML-N or the PPP to impose party discipline and rally supporters around the party candidates. In Lahore, a victory for Ayaz Sadiq will be portrayed by the PML-N as a validation of the 2013 general election. The more meaningful outcome though would be that the National Assembly would have been spared a potentially disruptive search for a new speaker.
To the credit of the voting public and the activists of the political parties involved, yesterday’s elections were held in a quite orderly and mostly trouble-free environment. Less salutary was the role of the party leaderships themselves, particularly of the PML-N and PTI. While keenly fought electoral contests ought to be the sign of a healthy, vibrant democracy, there is a sense that the PML-N and PTI leaderships allowed ego and personal rivalries to overwhelm common sense and regard for the political process itself. Over the top campaigning created a sense that yesterday’s elections were make or break for both sides, when in fact they were never going to alter the parliamentary equation or reshape the political landscape. Unhappily, the PML-N and PTI appear more keen on campaign rhetoric than the real need: electoral reforms ahead of the 2018 general election.



CLASSIC signs of a leadership vacuum are emerging in the cabinet’s ranks. Ministers are openly talking about their inability to deliver on key objectives in their areas of responsibility, and pointing fingers at their colleagues and other government departments as the reason. A blame game amongst the ministers, poor performance and mounting frustration make the government appear disarticulated, uncoordinated, and increasingly factionalised. ‹ The ministers of petroleum and water and power have both launched a broadside against the Planning Commission and two regulators, saying they are working at odds with the objectives of the government, and in some cases, even pursuing personal goals.

The Planning Commission has shot back that it will continue to monitor the implementation of public-sector development projects without granting any favours, and carry on with overseeing the implementation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects without succumbing to pressure. Meanwhile the Punjab chief minister has made public his opposition to the finance minister’s pet proposal of aa withholding tax on bank transactions by non-filers of income tax returns.

A complex jigsaw of factionalism and internal rivalry within the ruling party is revealing itself, with reports of important differences between the Punjab chief minister and the finance minister, and between these two versus the ministers of petroleum and water and power. The Planning Commission, by virtue of being the focal ministry for all CPEC projects, is caught in the crossfire. Whatever the state of the ‘palace intrigue’ may be, it is disheartening to see it breaking into full public view with such bombast — because it clearly suggests that the biggest victim will be governance. This kind of factionalism is highly destructive, and can easily lead different parties to start playing an obstructionist role in each other’s affairs rather than focusing on their objectives. The prime minister should realise that such frustrations need to be nipped in the bud before they become unmanageable, assuming they haven’t reached that point already. Ironically enough, the latest salvo in this war of words amongst his own cabinet members was fired when the prime minister was in Sheikhupura, telling a crowd that his government would eliminate the power crisis during its five-year term and the opposition should not play an obstructionist role in this ambition. Given what was going on in Islamabad even as he spoke these words, it seems that the opposition need not do a thing to obstruct this goal.

Mental health concerns

AS far as governments in Pakistan are concerned, whether at the federal or the provincial level, little progress is ever made without an agonising stop-start process. With World Mental Health Day having passed on Saturday, it is worth taking up the matter of legislation and its enforcement meant to protect sufferers of this malady. For those with mental health disorders, Pakistan is indeed a difficult terrain to traverse. For most of the country’s existence, the relevant legislation was the Lunacy Act of 1912, despite the fact that medical science in this area has been a firmly established discipline for decades.
Mental Health Ordinance 2001 upon pressure from NGOs. However, this remained unimplemented until the health sector devolved to the provinces. And though Sindh took the lead amongst the provinces by passing the Sindh Mental Health Act 2013, it has yet to take the basic steps that will allow proper implementation of the law. The (provincial) legislation requires the setting up of a 14member mental health authority comprising a judge, health-sector representatives and appropriate medical specialists. This is required to develop and establish new standards for patient care, present recommendations to improve existing mental health centres and set up a board for inspections, amongst other things. None of these, according to experts, are in place, and without them, the mentally ill remain vulnerable to abuse in an atmosphere where empathy and understanding are absent. Can figures in authority take the lead in fulfilling the requirements under the law? Surely, the rights of such sufferers should not be denied simply because they are unable to lobby for themselves. Further, given the trauma this nation and its people have suffered over the past decade or so as the security situation unravelled and terrorism took root, the need for a solid mental healthcare infrastructure may be far greater than is currently recognised. For that to take shape, implementation of the law is necessary.
Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2015
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"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling ,but in rising every time we fall". (Nelson Mandela)

PRIME MINISTER Nawaz Sharif recording his statement before an FIA team suggests that the government is in fact serious about complying with the October 2012 Supreme Court judgement requiring the framing of charges against and prosecution of individuals linked to the stolen election of 1990. It is all the more extraordinary because Mr Sharif himself was the direct beneficiary of that rigged election, winning a first term as prime minister by leading the IJI coalition that was manipulated to victory by the then army chief, Aslam Beg, and the then ISI chief, Asad Durrani.

Yet, a history-setting trial is still far from certain. For one, the FIA inquiry has yet to record the statement of Aslam Beg. Whether Mr Beg intends to eventually cooperate with the inquiry is not known, but at the moment he does have a fairly credible reason for not doing so: the review petition against the Supreme Court judgement filed by the former army chief has yet to be decided. The Supreme Court should expedite its hearing of the review petition so as to allow the FIA to meet its target of completing the inquiry by year end.

More troubling is the assertion by the interior minister that some military personnel were not cooperating with the inquiry. While the minister did not clarify if he was referring to only Mr Beg or other individuals, it is known that a number of other former ISI and military officers have already appeared before the investigators. Are some other officers though not cooperating with the FIA? Perhaps the interior minister will clarify the comment he made on Wednesday. If a serving prime minister can record his statement before the inquiry team, then why not military officers? Reluctance to cooperate would be particularly unfortunate given that the military itself is pursuing the accountability of politicians in Sindh. The present military leadership has made some effort to kick-start an accountability culture within the military by acting against generals involved in the NLC scam — though the punishments left much to be desired. It is hoped that the FIA will be facilitated in the Asghar Khan case inquiry. The Asghar Khan case matters. Not just for historical reasons, but to reiterate that elections must be a reflection of the will of the people, not state institutions. In an era when elections are routinely questioned and results challenged, it is worth remembering that true mass rigging has been seen in this country in the past — and such institutional threats have not been buried forever.

The PML-N government has shown some courage in its handling of the Asghar Khan case. The case, after all, is a potent reminder of the past democratic failings of many of the party’s leaders today. If civilians can face up to their past mistakes and submit to the law of the land, then why not the military?


THE recent moves by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to stamp his leadership on a fractious cabinet are welcome, but more is going to be required in the days to come if the ship of government is to be put back on an even keel. ‹ The latest meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy saw a few decisive decisions, and an earlier meeting between the prime minister and the minister for planning also saw a firm and unambiguous statement of support for the oversight functions being performed by the Planning Commission. Removal of the managing director of the Nandipur power plant, that has become an albatross around the government’s neck, had become necessary following the prolonged failure to make the plant operational and to rectify its problems. The managing director was unable to fix the problems of the plant, and had also failed to locate a contractor to run the project, despite being given a number of opportunities to do so. The step itself comes a little late in the day, and had this been a purely private-sector project, it would in all likelihood, have been taken much sooner. But the step is a modest one compared to the scale of the challenges that the many failures of the Nandipur project have thrown up.

For one, the whole episode, coupled with other failures to smoothly implement large projects in the public sector, has cast a cloud over the capacity of the government to implement the bouquet of CPEC projects under its charge. The rivalry between the ministers playing out so publicly is also unlikely to recede following the prime minister’s rebuke — the challenge requires a chief executive who is less aloof from the affairs of state, meaning Mr Sharif will have to change his style of leadership if he wants his government officials to focus on solving problems rather than settling scores with each other. The Nandipur project has become an emblem of the government’s ineptitude, and a lightning rod for its internal wrangling. Fixing the problem is a big task now, but it is also important to remember that the many failures that went into the making of this debacle will not go away even when the project is finally operational. Eventually, what needs to be fixed is not just one power plant, but the way the government operates — a midcourse correction that will take more than just a lecture.


For the past several weeks, the city of Jerusalem has been witnessing a rising spiral of violence. ‹ While much of the international media attention has focused on stabbings and violence blamed on the Palestinians, as well as the Israeli reaction, there has not been a great deal of discussion on the root causes of the current clashes between the Arabs and the Jewish state. While violence is indeed unacceptable, the fact is that the Palestinian reaction stems from Israeli attempts to encroach upon the revered al-Aqsa mosque as well as the repression and extrajudicial killings of Palestinian citizens at the hands of Tel Aviv.
Israeli forces had entered the al-Aqsa complex in September; thereafter, there has been a campaign of provocations carried out by extremist Jewish groups calling for the destruction of one of Islam’s holiest sites. Moreover, there have been few attempts by what the Palestinians term the ‘settlers’ regime’ in Tel Aviv to control the Jewish extremists. Israel, of course, has a long history of violating the sanctity of Palestine’s holy sites, and has no regard for Palestinian lives. Israel’s response to Palestinian violence has been, characteristically, brutal. Even the UN secretary general has reportedly asked Tel Aviv to review its tactics when dealing with Palestinian protests. While at least seven Israelis have died in the current violence, around 30 Palestinians have been killed. Clearly, if the situation is not controlled there is a risk that the violence will spread; in fact, there has been talk of a ‘third intifada’ breaking out. It should be remembered that the second intifada was sparked by the provocative visit of Israeli leader Ariel Sharon to the al-Aqsa mosque in 2000. To contain the unrest, there must be no change to the status quo of Jerusalem’s holy sites, while Jewish extremists must be prevented from stirring up trouble in this highly sensitive city that is revered by all the Abrahamic faiths. Until the long-term status of Jerusalem is decided judiciously, the threat of violence will always loom.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2015
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"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling ,but in rising every time we fall". (Nelson Mandela)

AMID constant reminders about the need to work diligently under the National Action Plan, there is some activity against militants in Punjab since the killing of the provincial home minister Shuja Khanzada in a suicide attack two months ago. Frequently, there are reports of police and the intelligence agencies targeting suspected militants linked to terrorist outfits in different parts of the province from Rahim Yar Khan at one end to Rawalpindi on the other. Most raids on the hideouts of suspected militants are said to be conducted on the basis of ‘credible intelligence’ that has been collected by different agencies, particularly the ISI. › Yet some eyebrows have been raised over the ‘collateral damage’ that some raids have left in their wake.

A raid by the provincial counterterrorism force on the hideout of a suspected militant linked to the Lashkar-iJhangvi in a village on the outskirts of Rawalpindi late Wednesday night resulted in six fatalities. Among the dead were two minor boys and an elite force commando. Police claim the suspect and commando were killed when two women present lobbed hand grenades at the raiding party. It was asserted they then blew themselves up together with the two children by detonating a suicide jacket. Some reports suggest that an exchange of gunfire between the suspects and police also followed three explosions. What actually happened may never emerge because the law-enforcement and intelligence agencies tend to keep the details of such raids to themselves. There is an ongoing debate about how far ‘collateral damage’ can be prevented. But the fact remains that some more planning and care can help avert the loss of innocent lives, especially when it is being claimed that an operation is being conducted on the basis of foolproof intelligence. One big purpose of intelligence is to isolate the suspects as far as possible before they are approached. With the fight against terrorism and militancy likely to expand to the more populated urban and semi-urban areas of Punjab, the chances of greater collateral damage must be minimised by adhering to the old rule about isolation and strike. This is a very sensitive topic and there is a cogent argument for pursuing militants aggressively and speedily. However, since allegations of a force overreaching itself in the heat of the moment are common, it will also be in the interest of fair and clean operations that the planners tread with caution.


IT was a pillar of US President Barack Obama’s foreign policy: he would finish the wars he inherited, in Iraq and Afghanistan, and would leave office with no American troops fighting wars abroad. But it was not to be. The drawdown plan in Afghanistan that Mr Obama had previously announced has been changed. Now, US forces will stay at their present levels, just under 10,000 troops, until late 2016 or early 2017 and thereafter a residual force of some 5,500 troops will be maintained. Previously, the drawdown from the present level of troops was to have commenced this year and by the end of 2016 some 1,000 troops were to be left behind mainly to protect the US embassy in Kabul. › Effectively, the US president has left it to his successor to decide what to do about Afghanistan — and it will be no easy decision.

To begin with, much will depend on whether the foreign train-and-assist mission will be able to improve the quality and resilience of the Afghan National Security Forces. There are few grounds to be optimistic on that count. However, even the small US military presence will likely help blunt the worst effects of the Afghan Taliban insurgency. As was seen in Kunduz, the air power of the Americans and coordination with the Afghan special forces makes it difficult for the Taliban to hold a big city. In effect, President Ghani’s unity government has been handed a lifeline. The US has committed to ensuring the post-Bonn Afghan state does not collapse. Beyond that, however, and yet again, President Obama does not appear to have a real strategy for Afghanistan. With US troops active in the battlefield, Afghanistan may not be taken over by the Taliban. But the Taliban are terrifically resilient. The drawdown of US troops last year in Afghanistan led to the most intense and widespread of Taliban summer offensives this year. What is to happen between now and 2017 that will make the Afghan state more viable and likely to survive? President Obama had no words on the subject. It is fairly clear though what needs to be done in Afghanistan: political reconciliation between the Taliban and the government and an improvement in the quality of government.

It is not at all clear, however, how to achieve that. As far as governance is concerned, the unity government seems to be an insurmountable hurdle — President Ghani may seem like he wants to improve governance, but he cannot get past the intense and endless politicking that is blocking his ambitions. Meanwhile, with the Taliban attacks more intense than ever and Pak-Afghan ties still turbulent, there does not seem an immediate and obvious path to the resumption of dialogue. Of course, the US remains immensely influential — if it so desires, reconciliation with the Taliban can be made a priority for all sides again.


Shoaib Malik is back with a bang. The 33-year-old allrounder, who scored a monumental 245 against England at Abu Dhabi this week in his first Test match for Pakistan in nearly six years, has perhaps silenced his critics with his emphatic return. The lanky Sialkot-born player, hailed as the best young all-rounder on the horizon at the time of his Test debut against Bangladesh at Multan in 2001, has made great strides this year in both the T20 and ODI formats to make the critics sit up and take note. That said, his prolific scoring was still not considered good enough to merit his inclusion in a well-settled, starstudded Pakistan Test side that is now ranked among the top four teams in the ICC ranking following victories over Bangladesh and Sri Lanka on their own turf.

But as the idiom goes, luck favours the brave. Shoaib Malik received a welcome nod from Test skipper Misbah-ul-Haq as replacement for young off-spinner Bilal Asif who was sidelined due to a suspect bowling action last week. Azhar Ali’s lingering toe infection and ace spinner Yasir Shah’s freak back injury on the eve of the first Test suddenly saw the cricketer inducted into the playing eleven at Abu Dhabi as an all-rounder and he grabbed the opportunity to play the innings of his life. Back in 2007-08, following a controversy-riddled two-year stint as Pakistan captain, Shoaib had spent several years languishing in the domestic first-class cricket scene without making much of an impression. However, people close to him vouch that he owes much of his recent success in international cricket to the influence of his wife Sania Mirza, the current world doubles tennis champion. A word of caution though: he needs to prop up his bowling skills to become a permanent part of the Pakistan team. The docile tracks in the UAE are unlikely to assist him in this. However, given the determination he has shown in making a grand comeback for Pakistan, not much appears beyond Shoaib Malik.

Published in Dawn, October 17th , 2015

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"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling ,but in rising every time we fall". (Nelson Mandela)

Welcome deal with Russia

THE growing ties between Pakistan and Russia are a welcome development. An agreement to build a natural gas pipeline from Karachi to Lahore, capable of carrying gas in quantities large enough to bridge the growing deficits in Punjab, is only the first step, and more agreements to promote trade and investment should follow. Pakistan has very large requirements for infrastructure investment, and the private sector will not be able to fulfil these given the complex set of risks in the country. Most of our future infrastructure requirements are far more likely to be met through bilateral deals involving governments rather than through incentives offered to private investors. The entry of Russia as a partner in our infrastructural growth is thus a very positive step indeed.

It is helpful to remember though, that states do not get directly involved in the economic affairs of another country without some sort of geopolitical interest at work. In Russia’s case, these interests are clearly built around promoting stability in Afghanistan, and choking extremist activity within Pakistan. President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned of violence and militant activity in Afghanistan spilling over into Central Asia and potentially into Russia as well. Pakistan has a special role to play in promoting stability in the region, and a closer relationship with Russia should help further align our interests around the maintenance of stability in Afghanistan and the elimination of extremist threats from our midst.

It is also important to bear in mind that infrastructure investments, particularly in the energy sector, will not yield any benefit if they are not accompanied by domestic reforms, particularly in the pricing regime for natural gas and other fuels. The case of the LNG import terminal, which is continuing to function under ad hoc supplies, is a case in point. Imported gas will be a non-starter in Pakistan so long as it faces a large price difference with domestic gas. For the pipeline that the Russians are offering to build to be a real opportunity, the mistakes of the LNG terminal must be avoided. A lot of homework will be necessary before gas flows can materialise, including price reforms, and the government ought to focus on these right away. A proper model for importing the gas, from third-party access rules to pipeline capacity, and sharing of costs will need to be developed. The project should also seek to eventually take input from the Iranian gas supposed to be piped through the IP pipeline. That project should not be allowed to fall by the wayside as a consequence of the deal with Russia. There is much to look forward to in Pakistan as our advantage of location comes into sharper relief, but the right decisions at home will be key to ensuring that the benefits from this advantage materialise in a smooth manner.

Passport hassle

THERE was a time, not so long ago, when one of the primary and recurrent nightmares faced by the citizenry was having government-issued documents made or renewed. The offices that handle applications for identity cards, driving licences and passports, etc, used to be characterised by chaos. Thankfully, the situation has improved greatly. Several interventions during the years past, the most notable of which has been the computerisation and creation of the integrated National Database and Registration Authority, have resulted in a system where having documents issued or renewed is on the whole an exercise both sane and uncomplicated. The final frontier was the passport office, which lagged far behind the gains made by Nadra and other departments. Even here, though, some progress has been made: the facility of issuing machine-readable passports has been extended to some consulates and, the occasional shortages of booklets notwithstanding, the waiting period for issuance has been shortened. On Friday, a machine-readable passport facility was inaugurated at the Foreign Office in Islamabad, where, additionally, human resource will be trained to process the documents at Pakistani missions abroad.

This is a welcome step, but the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports needs reminding that there is one glaring deficiency that needs urgent rectification. This is the requirement that passports can only be renewed in the city from where they were issued — which makes no sense at all given that the data has all now been digitalised, cross-referenced with the Nadra database, and should be able to be accessed electronically from anywhere in the country. Given the Pakistani citizenry’s increasing inter-city migration and travel, this is an outmoded and very inconveniencing situation. There is no reason why a person should have to travel to another city merely to have his or her passport renewed, especially when so such hassle exists in terms of identity cards — both of which fall under the purview of the interior ministry. It is high time the system were changed and made more convenient.

Flawed drone strategy

IT has long been suspected that the US has exaggerated the accuracy of its drone strikes programme, with critics claiming that a far greater number of civilians have been killed than admitted by the US government. Now, with new revelations by The Intercept, an online publication created to report on the Edward Snowden documents and other US national security-related issues, it has become clear that the drone programme is dangerously flawed. While the missiles themselves may be accurate in the sense that they strike what they are meant to, there are significant problems with the intelligence on which targets are hit. From errors in target selection — killing the wrong person — to the circumstances in which a target is struck — how many other individuals are nearby and whether they can be considered legitimate targets — the programme appears to be rife with problems. What is particularly alarming is that new documents concern drone strikes carried out by the US military — which was thought to be relatively more transparent and, therefore, rigorous in its application of force than the ultra-secretive CIA campaign believed to control drone strikes inside Pakistan.

Now, with Pakistan having deployed and used an armed drone in Fata already, the mistakes of the US programme are perhaps being replicated here. The American experience suggests that when a new platform for waging war is acquired and then used against the most serious of national security threats in remote areas, troubling results will usually follow. Armed drones can be useful and can have a significant impact; the first three leaders of the Pakistani Taliban, for example, Nek Mohammad, Baitullah Mehsud and Hakeemullah Mehsud, are all believed to have been killed by US-operated drones. But there are genuine risks, posed not least by the backlash that can be caused by errant missile strikes. In the Pakistani case, that problem is compounded by the near-total absence of independent and verifiable battlefield information. The absence of public information tends to encourage impunity, a great deal of which can come from the belief that a just war is being waged against mortal enemies of the state. The US programme includes the president himself in the chain of command and yet many civilians are believed to have died. In Pakistan, who is authorised to select targets and who can authorise the firing of a missile? The people deserve to know what war measures are being taken in the name of the public interest.

Source: Editorials
Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2015

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The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion !

FRIDAY’s decision by the high court in India-held Kashmir on the status of the disputed territory constitutes a rebuff to the hard-line BJP government’s attempt to alter the facts.
Besides declaring that the special status guaranteed to India-held Kashmir under Article 370 was permanent, the judges said the “limited sovereignty” it enjoyed was “beyond amendment, repeal or abrogation”. The judgement pointed out that the special status had its “roots” in the instrument of accession. For the uninitiated, let us point out that the instrument of accession was signed by a maharaja who had earlier signed a standstill agreement with Pakistan, giving the latter the right to control the railways and post.

It was on the basis of this instrument of accession signed by a fugitive maharaja that India sent troops to the Valley and has since occupied it in violation not only of various UN resolutions but also of the pledges given by several government leaders in India, including governor general Lord Mountbatten and prime minster Jawaharlal Nehru. Even though Indian governments have routinely reneged on their commitment to a plebiscite based on the demand for Kashmiri self-determination, they have had the common sense to let the territory maintain its ‘special status’ as guaranteed by the Indian constitution. ‹ One of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election promises was to do away with the constitution’s Article 370 and thus incorporate the Muslim-majority territory into the Indian Union. Friday’s decision should make it clear to Mr Modi that Kashmir’s special status is justified, that the territory under Indian occupation is part of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, that it was India itself which took the dispute to the UN, and that the only solution lies in giving the Kashmiri people the right to selfdetermination. It is time Mr Modi concentrated his energies on controlling the communal tension which the increasing influence of Hindutva has triggered in India besides addressing the rights violations in IHK which international human rights bodies have repeatedly condemned.


The houbara bustard is a highly regarded bird, but perhaps it too would be surprised to learn that it is a cornerstone of Pakistani foreign policy. That rather astonishing claim has been made as part of the federal government’s attempt to have overturned a Supreme Court edict last month banning any governments, provincial or federal, from issuing special hunting permits. With the migratory season beginning next month and Arab leaders likely keen on securing their hunting permits here, the government appears to have been prompted into action, but in a typically ham-fisted manner.

To be sure, there are several legal issues here, both regarding the status of the houbara bustard and whether the Supreme Court order overstepped its authority by issuing the blanket ban. While local classifications can be manipulated by the authorities it is worth noting that the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species classifies the particular variant of the bustard hunted in Pakistan as ‘threatened’ — a classification below ‘endangered’ and ‘critically endangered’. Moreover, the government’s review petition appears to make a reasonable case that wildlife laws grants the classifying authority to provincial governments. There is little indication that the existing classification of the bird in Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh is contrary to scientific evidence. The problem is not that limited hunting of the houbara bustard is unacceptable. The problem is that — as the federal government has so crassly indicated in its review petition — governments here are keen to oblige Arab royals and leaders. That means issuing excessive hunting permits and doing nothing to ensure hunting parties comply with the conditions of the permits and not grossly exceed their quotas. It was those excesses that led to a petition against the Sindh government’s decision to grant hunting permits last year and appears to have prompted first the Sindh High Court and then the Supreme Court into protecting a bird whose numbers are declining.
It remains to be seen how the Supreme Court will deal with the federal government’s objections to the hunting ban. Already, however, in linking the ban to struggles on the foreign policy front with the Gulf and Middle Eastern countries, the government has opened itself to ridicule. A far more sensible approach would have been to submit, along with the core legal arguments, a detailed plan on how the provincial and federal governments would ensure that only limited hunting in strict compliance with licence conditions will be allowed and what fresh conservation steps will be taken to protect the migratory birds. The houbara bustard is a national treasure, not a cornerstone of foreign policy. Perhaps the PML-N needs to rethink it approach to policy, local and foreign — it increasingly appears feckless in both.*


THOUGH sectarian violence has come down relatively in Pakistan, the authorities must remain on their toes to prevent acts of terrorism as the climax of the Muharram mourning period — Ashura — approaches. There are indeed signs that the state is taking the threat seriously as a number of law-enforcement operations have recently managed to zero in on suspected militants who were reportedly planning to attack Muharram gatherings. In Peshawar, police said on Friday they had recovered several suicide jackets that were to be used to target mourning processions. Two suspects have also been arrested in this connection.

Elsewhere, law enforcers say the suspected militants killed in Rawalpindi’s Dhamial area were also planning to target mourning processions. Security sweeps have been conducted in various parts of Balochistan as well. All of the above developments indicate that the state is relying on intelligence-led operations to prevent incidents of terrorist violence. This is, naturally, the best way to proceed as trying to stop a suicide bomber or gunman as they are about to strike is incredibly difficult and risky. The key is to neutralise militants far before they are able to attack. The raids in different parts of the country show that intelligence-gathering has improved. However, it would be premature to assume that all bases have been covered: sectarian militants may currently be down, but they are far from being out of commission. The infrastructure that sustains and supports hate groups is arguably intact, even though many of the leaders of such outfits may be in custody or keeping a low profile. Moreover, with increasing talk of the presence of the selfproclaimed Islamic State — a virulently sectarian outfit — in Pakistan, a new threat has been added to the already existing ones. Potential recruits to the cause in this country may be willing to carry out terrorist atrocities to ‘impress’ the IS core in the Middle East. Hence, the state needs to sustain and expand its intelligence-led efforts to neutralise the threat of militant attacks. Muharram security — with large crowds gathering for processions and majalis in numerous locations across the country — is a major challenge every year. Yet this year it will be an even more demanding task as the authorities have pledged to stamp out extremist violence under the National Action Plan; sectarian terror groups will, therefore, be looking to prove they are still a force to be reckoned with despite the state’s efforts to uproot them.
Published in Dawn, October 19th , 2015

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"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling ,but in rising every time we fall". (Nelson Mandela)