[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Sound and fury[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]November 22nd, 2012[/RIGHT][/B]

For all the talk of deweaponisation in the last few days, it’s clear what the drama is really about: politics. Any genuine concern for law and order is at best a secondary concern for Karachi’s main political parties; that much was obvious from the way the debate shaped up this week. Trying to avoid a special focus on Karachi and deflect any talk of a military operation there, the MQM argues that deweaponisation should take place not just in Karachi, but across the country. The ANP argues for the opposite, likely in part because stripping people of arms would be culturally unacceptable in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata, but mainly because it wants the focus to remain precisely where its political rival does not want it to be — on Karachi. Meanwhile, in a glaring display of lack of concern about policy effectiveness, the ruling party supports both moves in an attempt to protect its political alliances. Proceedings in the National Assembly and the Senate this week were thus a farce, with parliament becoming a forum for political parties to one-up each other rather than address citizens’ concerns.

Lost in all this rhetoric were the practical challenges of carrying out deweaponisation, whether in Karachi — where it has been tried and has failed — or elsewhere in the country. Who, for example, would carry it out? In Karachi, at least, with an overwhelmed police force and the Rangers’ ability to operate effectively in the city in question, the military would likely have to be called in, which would be a political minefield. Who would be targeted?

A first step might be to choke off supply lines, focusing on curbing smuggling rather than trying to retrieve huge amounts of unlicensed arms from their owners. Whatever the answers, the lack of substance in this week’s debates proved that the conversation was about political posturing and appearing to be concerned about law and order.

And ultimately, regardless of the methods used, deweaponisation in Karachi would run into the same road block that other law and order problems do: the extent to which violence and politics are intertwined in this city. Short of a no-holds-barred, bloody military operation — which would only temporarily relieve political rivalries, as previous operations have done, rather than addressing them — the only way to tackle the problem is for all the city’s major political players to reach a sustainable agreement on arms control. But as this week’s drama has proved, nothing will change as long as they continue to view Karachi as a zero-sum battleground rather than a city in which millions of people are trying to survive.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Kasab’s execution[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]November 22nd, 2012[/RIGHT][/B]

The secret execution and burial of Ajmal Kasab, the sole gunman to survive the 2008 tragedy in Mumbai, revives the memory of a senseless but well-planned act of mass murder that brought Pakistan and India to the brink of war. Four years later, many questions still remain unanswered on this side of the border: who were the brains behind the slaughter of the innocent civilians? What did they propose to achieve? Where and how were the gunmen trained and armed? Who brainwashed them into undertaking that ignoble mission? Who provided the operational facilities, including the boat journey to the Indian port? And why did these activities go unnoticed in Pakistan? Subsequently, the authorities in Islamabad acted to establish facts that distanced the state from the work of a few fanatic killers. But that doesn’t serve to hide the shortcomings in the working of Pakistan’s anti-terrorism apparatus and its inability to keep tabs on organisations — not necessarily banned — which manage to amass enough resour-ces to run clandes-tine cells that undertake fiendish operations of such magnitude.

The Pakistani part of the trial is dragging on, prompting allegations from New Delhi that Islamabad is not serious. The fact that the prosecution came up with some new information about the Pakistani handlers of the suspects and the money transfer mechanism to shed some light on the case gives hope that the case will be pursued with speed and that justice will be done so that those responsible for the massacre are exposed. Above all, Pakistanis deserve to know what the government intends to do to ensure that such a tragedy is not repeated. The issue is linked to the hydra-headed monster that terrorism has become for us. Militants are now operating throughout Pakistan and feel free to choose their targets, strike at will and plan operations abroad. The lesson to be drawn from the Mumbai events and its aftermath is that the government must make efforts to ensure that the state and citizens unite to root out what has become the biggest threat to our peace of mind as well as to our own and regional security.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]No end in sight[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]November 22nd, 2012[/RIGHT][/B]

As the doctors’ strike in Balochistan expands in scope, there has been a parallel increase in the people’s misery. While previously the strike was limited to government hospitals, doctors in private healthcare facilities have now joined the protest. Matters took an even uglier turn on Tuesday when emergency services and out-patient departments were shut in reaction to the rough treatment meted out by the police to protesting medics on Monday. In a related, equally disturbing development, doctors’ bodies in Sindh on Tuesday also threatened to stop work if their colleagues in Balochistan were not freed and cases against them, lodged in reaction to Monday’s protest, not withdrawn. Doctors in Balochistan have been on strike now for over a month; the protest was sparked by the kidnapping of eye specialist Dr Saeed Khan, who was abducted in October. Several doctors have either been killed or kidnapped in the restive province in the recent past.

The police action against protesting doctors is condemnable while it is well-known that security in Balochistan is very poor. We sympathise with the plight of doctors, yet there can be no justification for adding to the grief of the people by denying them medical care. Harrowing images came out of Quetta on Tuesday, of patients desperate for medical attention. Doctors in public and private facilities need to immediately return to work and pursue their rights through other methods of protest. While industrial action may be an acceptable mode of protest in other professions, when it comes to doctors it is literally a matter of life or death for patients, so shutdowns of hospitals should be out of the question. Also, instead of adopting a confrontational posture, the Balochistan government needs to respond to the medics’ demands, especially by recovering the kidnapped doctor and providing the medical community with adequate security.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Sound and fury[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]November 23rd, 2012[/RIGHT][/B]

For all the talk of deweaponisation in the last few days, it’s clear what the drama is really about: politics. Any genuine concern for law and order is at best a secondary concern for Karachi’s main political parties; that much was obvious from the way the debate shaped up this week. Trying to avoid a special focus on Karachi and deflect any talk of a military operation there, the MQM argues that deweaponisation should take place not just in Karachi, but across the country. The ANP argues for the opposite, likely in part because stripping people of arms would be culturally unacceptable in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata, but mainly because it wants the focus to remain precisely where its political rival does not want it to be — on Karachi. Meanwhile, in a glaring display of lack of concern about policy effectiveness, the ruling party supports both moves in an attempt to protect its political alliances. Proceedings in the National Assembly and the Senate this week were thus a farce, with parliament becoming a forum for political parties to one-up each other rather than address citizens’ concerns.

Lost in all this rhetoric were the practical challenges of carrying out deweaponisation, whether in Karachi — where it has been tried and has failed — or elsewhere in the country. Who, for example, would carry it out? In Karachi, at least, with an overwhelmed police force and the Rangers’ ability to operate effectively in the city in question, the military would likely have to be called in, which would be a political minefield. Who would be targeted?

A first step might be to choke off supply lines, focusing on curbing smuggling rather than trying to retrieve huge amounts of unlicensed arms from their owners. Whatever the answers, the lack of substance in this week’s debates proved that the conversation was about political posturing and appearing to be concerned about law and order.

And ultimately, regardless of the methods used, deweaponisation in Karachi would run into the same road block that other law and order problems do: the extent to which violence and politics are intertwined in this city. Short of a no-holds-barred, bloody military operation — which would only temporarily relieve political rivalries, as previous operations have done, rather than addressing them — the only way to tackle the problem is for all the city’s major political players to reach a sustainable agreement on arms control. But as this week’s drama has proved, nothing will change as long as they continue to view Karachi as a zero-sum battleground rather than a city in which millions of people are trying to survive.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Kasab’s execution[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]November 23rd, 2012[/RIGHT][/B]

The secret execution and burial of Ajmal Kasab, the sole gunman to survive the 2008 tragedy in Mumbai, revives the memory of a senseless but well-planned act of mass murder that brought Pakistan and India to the brink of war. Four years later, many questions still remain unanswered on this side of the border: who were the brains behind the slaughter of the innocent civilians? What did they propose to achieve? Where and how were the gunmen trained and armed? Who brainwashed them into undertaking that ignoble mission? Who provided the operational facilities, including the boat journey to the Indian port? And why did these activities go unnoticed in Pakistan? Subsequently, the authorities in Islamabad acted to establish facts that distanced the state from the work of a few fanatic killers. But that doesn’t serve to hide the shortcomings in the working of Pakistan’s anti-terrorism apparatus and its inability to keep tabs on organisations — not necessarily banned — which manage to amass enough resour-ces to run clandes-tine cells that undertake fiendish operations of such magnitude.

The Pakistani part of the trial is dragging on, prompting allegations from New Delhi that Islamabad is not serious. The fact that the prosecution came up with some new information about the Pakistani handlers of the suspects and the money transfer mechanism to shed some light on the case gives hope that the case will be pursued with speed and that justice will be done so that those responsible for the massacre are exposed. Above all, Pakistanis deserve to know what the government intends to do to ensure that such a tragedy is not repeated. The issue is linked to the hydra-headed monster that terrorism has become for us. Militants are now operating throughout Pakistan and feel free to choose their targets, strike at will and plan operations abroad. The lesson to be drawn from the Mumbai events and its aftermath is that the government must make efforts to ensure that the state and citizens unite to root out what has become the biggest threat to our peace of mind as well as to our own and regional security.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]No end in sight[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]November 23rd, 2012[/RIGHT][/B]

As the doctors’ strike in Balochistan expands in scope, there has been a parallel increase in the people’s misery. While previously the strike was limited to government hospitals, doctors in private healthcare facilities have now joined the protest. Matters took an even uglier turn on Tuesday when emergency services and out-patient departments were shut in reaction to the rough treatment meted out by the police to protesting medics on Monday. In a related, equally disturbing development, doctors’ bodies in Sindh on Tuesday also threatened to stop work if their colleagues in Balochistan were not freed and cases against them, lodged in reaction to Monday’s protest, not withdrawn. Doctors in Balochistan have been on strike now for over a month; the protest was sparked by the kidnapping of eye specialist Dr Saeed Khan, who was abducted in October. Several doctors have either been killed or kidnapped in the restive province in the recent past.

The police action against protesting doctors is condemnable while it is well-known that security in Balochistan is very poor. We sympathise with the plight of doctors, yet there can be no justification for adding to the grief of the people by denying them medical care. Harrowing images came out of Quetta on Tuesday, of patients desperate for medical attention. Doctors in public and private facilities need to immediately return to work and pursue their rights through other methods of protest. While industrial action may be an acceptable mode of protest in other professions, when it comes to doctors it is literally a matter of life or death for patients, so shutdowns of hospitals should be out of the question. Also, instead of adopting a confrontational posture, the Balochistan government needs to respond to the medics’ demands, especially by recovering the kidnapped doctor and providing the medical community with adequate security.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Restricted contact[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]November 24th, 2012[/RIGHT][/B]

Once again the government has resorted to suspending cellular phone facilities on a day when security concerns are high. In the approach to Ashura, it has gone one step further by also banning wireless phone services. Whether or not these steps are actually effective in averting a terrorist attack remains a moot point; we still await evidence to prove that such measures, which also restrict access to essential services such as police and emergency helplines, are necessary in the fight against extremism. While we can still take heart from the fact that the suspension of phone services is temporary, what possible defence can be found for the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s first imposing a ban on night-time and low-rate cellphone packages, and now preventing cellphone operators from offering chat-room services to users?

PTA says it is following the directives of the Supreme Court, and that legislators say such services are being misused, especially by students. On the floor of the National Assembly, a few voices have raised such concerns, with one legislator tabling a private member’s bill on the issue: MNA Nosheen Saeed is reported as having commented “Are these mobile telephone operators offering telephone services or running other services to misguide young people?”

Obviously, then, in the view of certain circles the threat to Pakistan’s social fabric comes not from entrenched issues such as terrorism, poverty and the lack of education, but from the morality codes of the young. According to this regressive view, it is the state’s responsibility to take up the role of morality police. Nothing, perhaps, can be more repugnant to those who stand for civil liberties and who point out that the answer does not lie in curbing personal freedoms. Further, each such step becomes a precedent for the next that shifts the goalposts and imposes more restrictions. The state has already established that people’s online freedoms can arbitrarily be curtailed — YouTube has remained offline for several weeks now, and PTA has not yet clarified its position or made a firm announcement that it will be reinstated. Does the government really want to go down this path? Regression is what extremists in Pakistan also want. The state and its functionaries, as well as the representatives of the people, need to dwell on the fact that the citizenry needs to be empowered through increasing freedoms and choices, not disempowered still further with the state itself taking on the role of an enforcer of bans and a restrictor of liberties.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Morsi’s ‘coup’[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]November 24th, 2012[/RIGHT][/B]

Buoyed up by his success in effecting a ceasefire in Gaza, President Mohamed Morsi has acted the wrong way — he has given himself sweeping powers in a move that the opposition calls “a coup against legitimacy”. The new decree issued on Thursday says decisions taken by the president cannot be overturned by any authority, including the courts. This negates the very spirit of the Arab Spring. Already, the president had enormous powers, because there is no legislature and he himself makes the laws. By pre-empting a judicial review of his actions, the president has armed himself with absolute powers. No wonder opposition leaders, who include such names as former Arab League secretary general Amr Moussa and Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, allege that the president has anointed himself “Egypt’s new pharaoh”. More menacingly, there is a hint of witch-hunting in his moves, because he has decided to reopen Hosni Mubarak’s trial and sacked chief prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud, a Mubarak loyalist. The charge against him was that he failed to secure adequate punishments for pro-Mubarak demonstrators who had attacked the security forces. He had earlier withdrawn his decision to fire Mr Mahmoud under pressure from Egypt’s powerful legal fraternity.

An acute and dangerous polarisation could grip Egypt, because Muslim Brotherhood activists have demonstrated in the decree’s favour, while the opposition has begun street protests and attacked Muslim Brotherhood offices. On Thursday, shortly after the decree was announced, Muslim Brotherhood activists staged demonstrations in front of the main court building, demanding that the judiciary be “purified”. This is a disturbing development. Unless such demands for purges are discouraged in time, the country could head towards authoritarianism. At present, Egypt has no parliament, and a Brotherhood-dominated assembly is still drafting a new constitution. The absence of any constitutional and legal checks on a head of state who already wields executive and legislative powers could throttle democracy, strengthen totalitarian tendencies and dash the populist hopes for which the people of Egypt had launched a valiant struggle against a despotic regime. As an opposition leader said, the anti Mubarak stir was not launched “in search of a benign dictator”.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Law for senior citizens[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]November 24th, 2012[/RIGHT][/B]

The announcement by a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa minister that the province would soon introduce legislation focusing on senior citizens’ rights must be welcomed. If things go as planned, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be the first provincial government in Pakistan to introduce a much-needed law addressing the rights and concerns of the elderly. What is also important is that the minister said that once the proposed bill becomes law, efforts will be made to enforce its provisions. It is well-known that many finely drafted laws are rendered ineffective in this country due to lack of enforcement. Pakistan has a large number of senior citizens. This age group is expected to grow in keeping with global trends of longevity. Yet neglect of elders in society is widespread and as economic pressures on families increase, traditional safety nets are beginning to fall apart. As a result, seniors have ended up as one of the most vulnerable sections of the population. Many do not have access to proper healthcare or social services. Seniors are especially vulnerable in emergency situations, such as natural disasters.

Along with other issues, the legislation should address access to affordable healthcare for seniors as well as a respectable pension and social security payments, including coverage for those elders who have worked in the informal sector. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s initiative must be lauded while the other provinces must follow suit. However, there is a need to speed up the lawmaking process as it has already taken too long; a draft bill on senior citizens’ rights has been pending since 2007, though neither the centre nor the provinces have up till now made efforts to pass the law. Statements of intent are fine, but the provinces need to introduce the legislation so that a legal framework for the protection of seniors’ rights can be established.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Another crisis[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]November 25th, 2012[/RIGHT][/B]

Barely has one controversy between the presidency and the superior judiciary been put to rest with the dispatch of the letter to Switzerland that another crisis is brewing: this time over the appointment and seniority of judges in the Islamabad High Court. The plot is complicated and involves multiple judges and their futures but in essence it started with the decision to elevate the chief justice of the IHC, Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman, to the Supreme Court. The controversy started when the Judicial Commission nominated, and the parliamentary committee endorsed, Justice Mohammad Anwar Kasi to the chief justice’s post as the senior-most judge of the IHC. When the summary appeared before President Zardari for routine signing, an anomaly was cited: another judge of the IHC, Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan, had been considered senior to Justice Kasi and therefore in line to succeed Justice Rehman as the IHC chief justice. In the midst of this tussle, two other judges of the IHC have become collateral damage because their continuation as judges beyond Nov 20 was contingent on approval by the Judicial Commission — which did assent but whose composition was taken as incomplete by the presidency owing to the dispute over who was the IHC’s senior-most judge.

If that sounds complicated, it is. On the face of it, the presidency appears to be inserting itself into a decision-making process that is two-tiered — judicial and parliamentary — and in which the role of the president was not really envisaged to include questioning the decisions taken by the judicial commission and endorsed by the parliamentary committee. But scratch the surface and the matter becomes more complicated because it appears the presidency may have a genuine case that Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan and not Justice Mohammad Anwar Kasi is technically the senior-most judge of the IHC behind the chief justice who has been elevated to the SC. The bigger mystery here is why the Parliamentary Committee, which is meant to debate and scrutinise the Judicial Commission’s recommendations, appears to have simply rubber-stamped a change at the top of the IHC that may be out of line with accepted convention. Considering the speculation that has been generated, it is important to know the reasons behind the out-of-step nomination of the next IHC chief justice.

Meanwhile, legal experts are hoping these developments have nothing to do with a petition challenging Gen Kayani’s extension as army chief that was to be taken up by the two judges whose tenure expired on Nov 20. The presidential reference to the SC should be moved quickly to end this unnecessary impasse.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Food security[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]November 25th, 2012[/RIGHT][/B]

The government’s decision to raise domestic wheat support price for the next harvest by 14 per cent to Rs1,200 per 40kg has its pros and cons. It will encourage farmers to grow more wheat to reap a record output of 26 million tons next spring. The hike in the cereal’s price will not only offset the surge in input costs but also increase the growers’ margins, which should help cut rural poverty. Additionally, it will make the country more food-secure than ever in the past in terms of availability and bring down the food import bill. But is higher crop production alone sufficient to reduce food insecurity? More than half the households, including subsistence farmers, in the country remain food-insecure despite a rapid increase in grain production during the last few years on higher-than-global domestic wheat prices. It means surging prices, especially of wheat, have put food out of the reach of most people. The new crop will be 80 per cent dearer than the one harvested in 2008, restricting the access of more people to enough food. Thus, while giving price incentives for increasing food production, the government should evolve a mechanism to feed everyone. Food inflation isn’t the only disadvantage of higher wheat price. It will put additional burden on the cash-strapped government that would be required to borrow greater funds from banks for its wheat procurement operations to keep the market from dipping, and pay heavier costs for the storage of grain. Moreover, the higher price may encourage farmers to bring more land under cultivation keeping them from becoming more efficient.

While the decision has its economic value, it will also help raise the ruling PPP’s stock in the rural areas of Punjab and Sindh in an election year. With a considerable number of people in rural Sindh angry with the PPP over the new local government law and many in south Punjab frustrated by its failure to create a new province for them, increasing support prices is perceived as a move to help the party win back a large chunk of its unhappy voters.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Unregistered vehicles[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]November 25th, 2012[/RIGHT][/B]

From time to time, this newspaper has carried photographs of vehicles with illegal number plates — that is, personalised plates as well as those reading ‘Applied For Registration’, or ‘AFR’ for short — which have proliferated across the country. In a status-conscious society, vehicle registration plates are another means of gratuitous self promotion. There is no dearth of vehicles bearing ‘MNA’, ‘MPA’ or ‘Senator’ plates plying the streets, or ‘Shaikh’ and ‘Nawab’ for that matter. In a sign of the times, when contempt of the law is itself deemed an act of bravado, one can even come across an occasional ‘Gangster’ brazenly affixed to a vehicle. Two prominent notices by the Sindh government in this newspaper on Friday offer hope that the days of unregistered vehicles may be coming to an end, at least in this province. One stated that owners must register their vehicles within 60 days, failing which they will be fined between Rs5,000 to Rs100,000, depending upon the delay in registration. The other notice addressed those vehicle owners who have inexplicably not picked up their government-issue number plates despite having applied and paid for them, and who are now presumably driving without plates.

Although there have been a number of ineffectual campaigns of this kind over the years, there seems to be a new urgency to this drive given that the Supreme Court’s Karachi bench, during a recent hearing on law and order in the city, ordered that unregistered vehicles, those without number plates and non-custom paid illegal vehicles be impounded. The practice in question not only deprives the government exchequer of taxes due on newly registered vehicles but, particularly important in the context of Pakistan, also makes it impossible to trace vehicles involved in terrorism as well as other crimes, including hit-and-run incidents. This time, there is no room for any laxity.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Fatal medicine[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]November 28th, 2012[/RIGHT][/B]

Death by drinking is not unheard of in Pakistan. The number of deaths caused by consuming substandard liquor runs into many scores each year. The incidence of such fatalities invariably picks up during holidays when imbibers revel as a group. But the 17 who died after having apparently drunk a cough-syrup based concoction in Lahore over the Ashura holidays did not consume the poison in a group. They had their fill individually. An initial official inquiry indicated they may have spiked the cough syrup, sold under the brand name of Tyno, for an enhanced kick. While the bottles they bought carried the same brand name some of them bore a price tag of Rs19 as opposed to the standard Rs42. But these clues raise more questions than offer explanations. One, a brand must have a certain reputation to attract the attention of fake manufacturers. Two, if users had bought the syrup individually, it is odd that each one on that particular day mixed it with a substance which turned it into a cocktail of death. The investigators should focus on whether the unfortunate users had bought some other drug from the same or another nearby shop to get the desired mix. The concentration of the deceased in one area of Lahore — Shahdara — should make it easier for police to narrow down the problem and unearth the racket. The outcome is almost expected: the probe is going to expose the nexus between desperate addicts and their heartless, greedy suppliers.

What has already been exposed though is the official failure of not learning from deaths caused by substandard drugs in the past. Almost a year ago, Lahore lost 150 precious lives due to the administration of a contaminated drug at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology. Investigations into the case still continue while monitoring remains so lax that it allows the sale of all kinds of substances. On Tuesday, the district coordination officer arrived in grief-stricken Shahdara to discover a factory making spurious medicines — a few days late.

According to a health official, Punjab is yet to fully understand its requirements and responsibilities under the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan law signed by the president recently. The law, among other objectives, seeks to regulate the working of the pharmaceutical industry and aims to prevent the manufacture of fake drugs. This delay in understanding the new system is criminal and while the fog must be cleared as early as possible, the blame for the havoc caused by substandard drugs, as well as the misuse of known brands does, by and large, lie with the province.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]In the line of fire[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]November 28th, 2012[/RIGHT][/B]

It is unfortunate that society’s lack of respect for the police obscures the fact that men of the force regularly risk their lives in their attempt to carry out their duties in an increasingly violent country. They do this with poor training and equipment — a situation that renders them a prime target for a variety of violent elements. Take the example of Karachi, where, as reported, more than 100 policemen have been gunned down so far this year. Similarly, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, over 600 police personnel are estimated to have fallen in the line of duty since 2007. Many of the murdered policemen in Karachi’s case were targeted by criminal gangs, as well as sectarian and religiously motivated militants. In the past, policemen associated with the 1990s’ Karachi operations have been systematically targeted, reportedly by ethnic militants, but the sheer number of those slain this year is a matter of concern. Most of those killed were from the lower ranks.

Although such a large number of policemen have been killed while performing their duties, the Sindh police high-ups appear to be unmoved. For example, there has been no real progress when it comes to following up on the cases of murdered police personnel. What is more, when policemen are killed or injured compensation is announced, but bureaucratic hurdles are created which make it difficult for the heirs to claim financial compensation, while corrupt elements within the police also demand a cut of the money before the families have access to it. Such disregard for the welfare of policemen and their families results in a corrupt, demoralised force unable to meet the challenges of urban policing. While better training and equipment are important, what is equally vital is to assure policemen that they will be looked after if injured and that their families will be cared for if they fall in the line of duty. This may boost their morale and result in better performance. The process of compensation payment must be reformed to make the amount sufficient, while the process should not be a humiliating one that adds to the miseries of the affected families.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Detestable practice[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]November 28th, 2012[/RIGHT][/B]

‘Two jirgas decide fate of four girls’ — this headline in yesterday’s edition of the paper masks a universe of suffering and pain. Variations of it are printed with disturbing frequency in other newspapers too. In one of the cases reported yesterday and pertaining to the Sukkur/Shikarpur area in interior Sindh, a man accused of having had illicit relations with the wife (subsequently killed) of another man was ordered by a tribal court to hand over his two sisters and a niece to the aggrieved family under the ‘sang chatti’ custom (also known as swara or vani). Currently underage, the girls are to be handed over once they reach puberty. In the second case, a jirga in Khairpur district settled a ‘free-will marriage’ dispute by ordering a 13-year-old girl to be immediately handed over in marriage to a 50-year-old man. The police have been directed to register cases and make arrests.

The victims can technically be protected by more than one law including child protection laws and the Prevention of Anti-Women Practices Act 2011, which specifically lays out punishments for giving females in marriage to settle disputes. Jirgas themselves have been actively discouraged or banned, as in Sindh. Yet the detestable practice remains as entrenched as ever. This is partly because while there is much talk of the law in urban areas, it is not so easy to implement these in the dark hinterlands where state justice is elusive. What is needed is effective and prohibitive implementation. In the two cases, the names of the men convening the jirgas are known. They must be pursued, and made to face justice. Until the majority of men in the country are aware that the abuse of women is criminalised and that violators will face the full force of the law little real change will be forthcoming.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Court’s expenses[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[RIGHT][B]November 29th, 2012[/B][/RIGHT]

Once again, the Supreme Court is in the news — and once again not necessarily for the right reasons. Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has renewed its demand for the Supreme Court registrar, Faqir Hussain, to appear before the committee and present the superior court’s administrative budget and expenses for scrutiny by the PAC. The demand that the registrar appear before the PAC is an old one. It is also one that the court has resisted over the life of this parliament, in fact since the mid-2000s. This time the PAC has not as yet set a fixed deadline for Mr Hussain to appear before the committee but the matter should come to a head by the second week of December if the court digs in its heels. Legalese aside, there is no clear legal or constitutional reason why the court can or should resist the PAC’s demands to scrutinise its expenditures. These expenditures are duly audited by the auditor general of Pakistan but not scrutinised by an independent body like the PAC. The court has taken refuge in a court decision from the mid-2000s after which the PAC’s oversight was rejected but few independent constitutional or legal experts accept the court’s rationale or argument.

Why, then, has the court resisted parliamentary scrutiny of its expenses? The assumption is that given the strains between the superior judiciary and the government, the court fears a public hearing on its expenses could become a political tool to undermine the court’s credibility and standing with the public. On the face of it at least, there is no reason to suspect the PAC will find anything seriously amiss in the court’s administrative expenses. Judges salaries’ are part of the official record and the lump sum transferred to the court to use in its discretion for salaries of court staff, upkeep of buildings, travel, etc is also known. Perhaps the court apprehends that the PAC, with its public hearings, could turn into a circus where politicians bandy about the sum it costs to keep a Supreme Court justice in office and the amount spent on infrastructure and travel — sums that even if innocuous could resonate in a negative way with the public in a struggling economy and with questions about the court’s ability to deliver effective, timely and low-cost justice still lingering.

But perceptions are not the law and neither is the PAC a government entity — even after the exit of Chaudhry Nisar Ali, the PAC remains a cross-party parliamentary body. Every other institution, including the military, has submitted to PAC scrutiny. So should the Supreme Court.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Friendly exchanges[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[RIGHT][B]November 29th, 2012[/B][/RIGHT]

After being treated to some charged scenes, the audience has finally been given relief. Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira on Tuesday showed his opposition to any move to disqualify Nawaz Sharif — the FIA probe of allegations that the PML-N chief had taken money from the ISI in 1990 providing the likely background. Though he didn’t give the context, the minister said those who thought Mr Sharif could be ousted from politics were living in a fool’s paradise. A couple of days earlier, Mr Sharif had said he would not mind taking oath from President Asif Ali Zardari if elected prime minister after the next polls. Interior Minister Rehman Malik has also in recent days offered the PML-N leaders some praise. Such has been the history of this country that even a handshake involving two opposing politicians can conjure up drastic scenarios about the intentions of a non-political force. Past interventionists will have to stay committed to elected rule for a much longer period before these fears are banished altogether.

Like life and television soap, Pakistani politics is full of intrigues and squabbles and frequent cheek-rubbing among friends and partners, enemies and nemeses. The relationship between the PML-N and PPP is in focus because of their central role and their vow to change the political culture. These two parties may be mercurial by design. When they are at each other’s throat, they scare the faint-hearted but do endear themselves to those who want hostilities to continue. Contrarily, an exchange of reconciliatory messages between the rivals pleases one group at the risk of angering brash fighters in their ranks. Neither party can be seen to be intimidated by the other, but then, neither can they brandish their firepower as they had done in the past for fear of alienating large groups of wary Pakistanis. This is a difficult balancing act to perform. As for those looking for some decency in politics, they have no choice but to look at the increased number of polite exchanges between politicians as the beginning of a lasting tradition where issues can be discussed in sober tones.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]TTP vs media[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[RIGHT][B]November 29th, 2012[/B][/RIGHT]

If certain sections of the media were still attempting to justify the TTP’s agenda or divert attention from it, the attempt on television anchor Hamid Mir’s life should leave no journalist or media outlet with any excuse to continue serving as apologists for the Pakistani Taliban. The TTP’s claim that it was behind the attack is not solid proof, but in the absence of any denials from the group, one can only take it at face value. And so it appears the Taliban have reached new levels of boldness when it comes to targeting the media. Going beyond just sending personal threats, which they have done with other journalists in the past, this time they have publicly announced that a particular journalist is a target — and that they plan to continue targeting him. The same unrepentant message of defiance came through recently when the TTP claimed the attack on Malala Yousufzai and some sectarian attacks: they have said they will continue trying to kill the young girl and Shias.

In the case of the media in particular, the Pakistani Taliban’s antagonism is alarming because it underscores that they cannot stomach any criticism. Simply speaking out against them is a crime in their eyes, one for which the only punishment is death. As such, they stand against everything that Pakistan’s hard-won media freedom represents. On a practical level, intelligence agencies must ensure that journalists are made aware of any threats to their lives; while the odd interior ministry notification is issued from time to time, there are instances of direct threats not having been communicated to the journalists they are made against. But more importantly, recent events should serve as a red flag for journalists — and politicians — who support, defend or excuse the TTP’s actions that they do so at the cost of their own freedom of expression.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Not so simple[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[RIGHT][B]November 30th, 2012[/B][/RIGHT]

The much-touted but largely ignored National Counter Terrorism Authority may be about to receive a new lease of life following approval by the federal cabinet of the Nacta bill on Wednesday. Next up for Nacta — created by an executive order in the late 2000s and so lacking the proper legislative cover — will be a debate in parliament, at the committee stage first presumably, before the bill can be converted into an act. So far so good, it would seem. But few things concerning Nacta are ever simple. Conceived as an intelligence coordination, research and international liaison entity, Nacta has suffered from the scepticism of lawmakers and the territorial attitude of various intelligence agencies at the provincial and federal level.

In principle, Nacta is an excellent idea and one that the country’s counterterrorism and counter-extremism strategies desperately need. At present, particularly at the coordination level, cooperation among Pakistan’s intelligence agencies is so ad hoc and shambolic that it almost borders on the criminal. While pragmatists have speculated whether an agency like the ISI would ever really consent to treating civilian counterparts as equals or even deserving of serious attention, we are still left with a situation where a number of civilian-run agencies could do with better coordination. For example, if the Sindh police are searching for a terrorism suspect who has escaped to another province, there is no institutional way at the moment to consistently and reliably share such information in a timely manner. Nacta could help plug that gap at least.

But if Nacta is to productively contribute to counterterrorism and counter-extremism strategies, it has to be organised along professional and independent lines. The draft bill approved by the cabinet is not available for scrutiny as yet but it is believed to have resolved the impasse over whether the prime minister’s office controls Nacta, as the Punjab government has demanded, or the interior ministry does, as Rehman Malik has wanted, by sharing control of the authority in a way that will effectively give the ministry the power to operate it. That may be a recipe for resistance from many intelligence agencies, who will likely balk at control by a highly politicised entity, as the interior ministry inevitably is under any government. In addition, who will guarantee that Nacta is staffed with competent and qualified analysts and administrators as opposed to political appointees who tend to populate such offices without a robust and transparent recruitment mechanism? The problem with entities like Nacta is that as good as they are on paper, without purposeful implementation of the idea, more problems are created than solved.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Indefensible delay[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[RIGHT][B]November 30th, 2012[/B][/RIGHT]

It had emerged sometime back that a massive backlog had developed in the issuance of passports, due to reasons that included absence of staff, the slow release of funds and non-payment of dues to the Security Printing Corporation (SPC) which provides the blank booklets. The Directorate General of Immigration and Passports had said that a mere 5,000 passports were being issued per day, against a daily application rate of more than 15,000. It had been hoped that the relevant administration would take urgent steps to plug the gaps, but regrettably that has not been the case. On Wednesday, the Senate Standing Committee on Interior was informed by the director general, Immigration and Passports, Syed Wajid Hussain Bokhari, that the backlog of passport applications had crossed the 300,000 mark. In September, applicants were waiting for up to two months for a document issued through the normal (as opposed to urgent) process. There does not appear to have been any change for the better. According to Mr Bokhari, the main reason behind the delay is that the money allocated to his department has not been released. Consequently, the department is unable to pay the SPC which, in turn, is releasing only 5,000 booklets a day against a much larger demand. He claimed that were the funds to be released immediately by the finance ministry and the SPC induced to provide 25,000 booklets a day, the entire backlog could be cleared within one month.

That such a crucial part of the state’s work is not being done for such a reason leaves us lost for words. Obtaining a passport is the basic right of every citizen and it is far too important a document to not issue indefinitely — particularly since many applicants need to travel urgently for medical treatment, education, employment or other reasons. Moreover, given that all the applicants affected have already paid the fees required for the issuance of their document, no excuse by the state is acceptable. The finance ministry and the passport issuing authority need to get their house in order soon.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Dangerous environs[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[RIGHT][B]November 30th, 2012[/B][/RIGHT]

The fact that a newborn at a Rawalpindi hospital was bitten by a rat earlier this week is a horrifying, extreme example of the lack of hygiene in the nation’s health facilities. It is perhaps sheer luck that the baby escaped serious harm. Officialdom’s response to the scary incident has been predictable: inquiry committees have been formed while senior officials at the hospital concerned have been suspended. Rodents and cats are said to be frequently spotted at the facility, yet it is not the only one in the country where animals and pests compromise the high sanitary standards that are expected at a hospital. With hygiene standards at public hospitals in all provincial capitals extremely poor, one can only imagine the state of rural health units. While the condition of private hospitals is relatively better, it is public health facilities which cater to most patients.

A shortage of funds for maintenance and upkeep is one of the reasons behind the unhygienic conditions. Overcrowding in public facilities is another concern, as there are not enough beds to cater to the number of patients, especially in gynaecology wards. Some quarters also disagree with outsourcing sanitation duties to contractors as the latter reportedly cut corners. Unfortunately, those tasked with keeping hospitals clean are paid a pittance, work long hours and hardly receive any training; there is little to motivate them into doing their job diligently. Health authorities in all provinces need to rethink their approach towards maintaining sanitary standards. The environment within and outside hospitals must be free of filth as well as animals. For this, sanitary staff must be motivated with higher salaries and better working conditions. In fact, all stakeholders, including doctors, nurses and hospital administrations should look upon it as a challenge that can only be met with a collective effort.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Kalabagh issue[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[RIGHT][B]December 1st, 2012[/B][/RIGHT]

Kalabagh dam enjoys support in the capital of Punjab which is the only unit in the federation backing its construction. For some, the proposal has been a dream for many decades now. For just as long, the ‘smaller provinces’ have opposed the construction of the dam, their opposition intensifying even at the mere hint of attempts to force the project through. But on Thursday, there was more of a thrust — from the blue. The Lahore High Court’s order has been met with the standard objections outside Punjab. In fact, so sensitive is the subject that even those who support Kalabagh’s construction have been guarded in their response to the LHC decision that the federal government is constitutionally bound to start the project in the light of the decisions of the Council of Common Interests. The decisions referred to in the LHC short order were made in the 1990s and called for technical and political issues associated with the dam to be addressed to make the latter acceptable to all.

The court says the project’s fate should not be sealed on the basis of presumptions and surmises, perhaps seeking to put the focus back on the CCI’s calls for evaluation of contentious aspects of Kalabagh. Maybe there is a hope that this would help iron out the differences between the provinces manifested in the anti-Kalabagh resolutions passed by the assemblies of Balochistan, Sindh and the erstwhile NWFP some years ago.

In any event, the matter will ultimately come to the people’s representatives which is only fair. Regardless of whether or not they agree with the court, the politicians have, without exception, spoken of the lack of consensus on Kalabagh in response to Thursday’s ruling. The question is: if it is to be ultimately referred to the politicians why did the LHC have to intervene in the first place? The temptation is there to find an answer in the judiciary’s relationship with a government whose decision to shelve the Kalabagh project “forever” was among its first resolutions. In more recent times the superior judiciary has ruled that a provincial government (in Balochistan) has lost its mandate to govern. It has also sought to fix CNG prices. This approach to addressing problems can be termed risky since it can increase the gap between two pillars of the state which cannot do without each other and must complement one another. The Kalabagh ruling by the LHC has already been dubbed ‘anti-federation’. It could cause — perhaps it already has caused — greater polarisation in a country confronting major provincial and ethnic divisions.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Palestinian victory[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[RIGHT][B]December 1st, 2012[/B][/RIGHT]

It may be “unfortunate” for America and “meaningless” for Israel, but an overwhelming majority of the General Assembly’s members voiced the feeling of people across the globe when they voted on Thursday to grant Palestine the status of a “non-member observer state”. The vote takes the Palestinian people a step closer to their ultimate aim of having a sovereign state of their own on their native soil. President Mahmoud Abbas called the vote “a birth certificate” for the Palestinian state and said the UN move was the “last chance to save the two-state solution”. Already, more than 130 states recognise Palestine as a sovereign entity; Thursday’s 138 yes votes and only nine nays (with 41 abstentions) show that more states have swung to the Palestinian cause and rejected the Israeli stance that seeks to perpetuate Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories. The vote also shows the diplomatic isolation of Israel and America — the two principal opponents of the move. Thursday’s vote also means Palestine will be able to join the UN’s specialised agencies, including what America is seen to dislike most — Palestine’s membership of the International Criminal Court.

While Palestinians have hailed their diplomatic victory, they and their supporters will have to reckon with Israeli intransigence, America’s unqualified support for the Jewish state, continued settlement activity in the West Bank and Israel’s arrogance stemming from its armed might. In fact, Israel’s UN ambassador clearly indicated the future course of the Likud government’s policy when he said the vote would put the peace process “backwards”, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacked Mr Abbas, alleging that his UN speech did not contain “the words of a man of peace”. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, like the American and Israeli ambassadors, called for direct talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel to achieve peace, forgetting perhaps that Israel has torpedoed every peace plan, including the ones to which it is party. Palestine’s diplomatic victory at the UN has embarrassed Israel and America, but they have no choice except to bow to reality, for the Palestinian people have a strong case based on history.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Skyfall[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[RIGHT][B]December 1st, 2012[/B][/RIGHT]

Man has always looked heavenwards for answers but on Wednesday night, disconcerted residents of Dadu district in Sindh had more than the normal vexations of life to quiz the higher powers about when large chunks of unidentifiable equipment dropped out of the sky over an area spanning several villages. That no one was hurt and no property damaged can only be termed a miracle, for the pieces were far from small. The biggest fragment weighed some 187 kilograms, while a former nazim of the area described a piece of iron as being five feet long and two feet wide.

Military authorities soon took possession of the remains and Pakistanis were left speculating whether the unidentified equipment was a bird, or a plane. Or, going beyond the Superman terminology, a dismembered satellite perhaps? Or even a missile? The last theory gained currency rapidly. Earlier on the same day, ISPR had reported that the army had successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable Hatf-V Ghauri ballistic missile. Following this line of reasoning, a few wary souls started wondering whether or not the huge amount of public funds spent on missile-system development produce stable results. Fortunately for the future of defence-system development, military authorities issued a statement yesterday saying that the objects constituted the part that separates in the normal course of a rocket launch; the missile reached its destination, so the test had been successful. That will no doubt come as a relief to the nervous, sky-gazing residents of Dadu, and other citizens, too, who may fear finding themselves in the flight path of a missile at any time after this incident. We can only wish that such tests would be conducted in more remote areas and with much more care. Surely working out which regions are populated is no rocket science.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Delimitation[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]December 2nd, 2012[/RIGHT][/B]

Due to the Supreme Court’s recent actions, there is renewed focus on the electoral dynamics of Karachi. Two cases before the apex court have raised issues concerning how the metropolis votes. In the first, the court has called for new delimitation of electoral constituencies in the city while hearing the suo motu case on law and order as a measure to quell violence. In the second case, in reply to petitions filed by several political parties arguing that votes have been ‘shifted’ out of Karachi, the Supreme Court has suggested the army be called to assist in door-to-door verification of voters.

Clarity in a number of areas is needed before these moves proceed any further. Firstly, controlling crime and redrawing the map of electoral constituencies are two very different things and have little in common. Clamping down on violence in the metropolis requires other, more direct solutions. It is unclear what delimiting new constituencies will do to crack down on criminal elements. Secondly, as far as the act of delimitation itself is concerned, there are two pertinent questions: why just in Karachi and why now, when elections are just months away? Legally and practically, a new census is essential for the delimitation process to be error- and controversy-free. But there has not been a population count since 1998. The law requires that constituencies be delimited after every census. Also, redrawing only Karachi’s constituencies may open a Pandora’s box. For example, it has been pointed out that there is as dire a need for new delimitation in Balochistan and Fata as there is in Karachi. As for the number of voters that have been registered outside Karachi despite living and working in the metropolis for several years, this also needs to be clarified. A figure of three million such voters has been cited. Where did this number come from? Election observers note that while the issue may be genuine, the number of such voters is much lower. The Election Commission of Pakistan needs to investigate and come out with the facts, keeping in mind that while Karachi’s population grows due to its status as an economic hub, other parts of the country are also experiencing population shifts, which need to be reflected in the electoral map.

Ideally, a census should be carried out after the general elections; when reliable population data emerges, the delimitation process can be carried out countrywide. Perhaps this point deserves due focus. Meanwhile, electoral matters are best left to the ECP to decide, as the court’s intervention in these affairs may complicate the situation, even if guided by the best of intentions.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Iran N-stalemate[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]December 2nd, 2012[/RIGHT][/B]

We are familiar with the ‘smoking gun’ shibboleth. The Hans Blix commission, searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, reported to the Security Council it had found no “smoking gun”. America and Britain still chose to invade Iraq. That’s why Iranian envoy Ali Asghar Soltanieh’s assertion at Friday’s Vienna meeting that the International Atomic Energy Agency had found “no smoking gun” in Iran is no guarantee of peace. Given Israel’s gung-ho record, its obsession with the Iranian nuclear programme and Tel Aviv’s frustration over the Palestinian diplomatic victory at the UN last Thursday, the Likud government could still choose to have a go at Iran — smoking gun or no smoking gun. The issue is not only Iran’s right to a nuclear programme for peaceful purposes, it is also the Iranian leadership’s failure to address predominantly Western concerns about uranium enrichment. Iran admits it has an ongoing uranium enrichment plan but insists it is meant for power production. That is where it runs into trouble with the IAEA. Friday’s Vienna meeting followed the release earlier last month of an IAEA report that claimed Tehran continued to violate UN resolutions.

On the day Mr Soltanieh spoke, the US Senate approved — 94-0 — another sanctions package against Iran, something the House of Representatives has already done. A day earlier, the American envoy to the IAEA said if Iran showed no “substantive cooperation”, Washington would take the issue to the Security Council. There Iran is unlikely to have the benefit of a Chinese or Russian veto, for the talks with P5+1 have so far produced no results. With the IAEA scheduled to meet again this month, and talks with P5+1 likely to resume shortly, Iran must make a determined bid to reassure them about its nuclear intentions. Statements like the one made by its nuclear chief, Ferydoon Abbasi Davani, that his country would expand its nuclear activity “with force” do not help, nor does Mr Soltanieh’s threat that Tehran “may” pull out of the NPT if Israel bombed the country. It wouldn’t matter whether Iran remained in the NPT or not if there was war.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Cause for concern[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]December 2nd, 2012[/RIGHT][/B]

The first World Aids Day, Dec 1, was observed in 1988. For the bulk of the years since then, it seemed that the war against this disease would never be won. Finally, however, in 2010, the UN said that the world had turned the corner and the tide had been reversed. Given this context, then, it is unfortunate in the extreme that in Pakistan, despite local and international efforts, HIV prevalence is continuing to rise in 19 cities. On Friday, in anticipation of World Aids Day, WHO issued a statement expressing concern over Pakistan’s high rates of unscreened blood transfusions, and poor infection control practices in healthcare centres across the country. Other factors that raise the risk of HIV transmission are as endemic: un-sterilised medical equipment, the re-use of syringes by drug addicts and the lack of awareness on part of vulnerable groups.

It gets worse. Since 1987 when the first Aids case was reported in Pakistan, the spread has been progressive with it now reaching the status of a concentrated epidemic in high-risk groups. Its incidence in injecting drug users stands at 27 per cent and in transgender sex workers at six per cent; both groups have breached the five per cent threshold set as the division between a first- and second-stage HIV epidemic. Further, we have seen outbreaks in rural communities such as Jalal Pur Jattan in district Gujrat because of overlap between injecting drug use, unsafe hospital infection control practices, the demand for therapeutic injections and commer-cial sex. This is a frightening trajectory. Given the passage of the 18th Amendment, provincial governments must evolve their own strategies and divert funds. Stretched though they may be, addressing this issue is vital. Already mired in a battle against polio, Pakistan must do more on the Aids front too.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Further delay[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]December 3rd, 2012[/RIGHT][/B]

Trade with India is supposed to be the game-changer in relations between the two countries. Better ties with India, including flinging open the doors to mutually beneficial trade, is supposed to have become a bedrock principle among mainstream politicians. But few things here follow a smooth script. According to a report in this newspaper yesterday, Pakistan has missed a self-imposed deadline to allow all tradable items to cross the land border with India — as opposed to many goods which presently make their way into Pakistan via the sea — because agriculturalists and their supporters in cabinet are reluctant to endorse the government’s own plan ahead of an election. The thinking is typically protectionist, and bereft of a full understanding of what Pakistan would have to do after cabinet endorsement of trade liberalisation with India. Allowing goods to cross over from Wagah and other land routes will not automatically hurt agriculturalists and their powerful supporters because key products like sugar, wheat and cotton would still be regulated. But given the quality of debate in the cabinet and the electoral considerations of politicians becoming paramount with an election on the horizon, rational argument is an unfortunate casualty in decision-making.

Just as worrying is how easily the decision-making process can be manipulated by vested interests, even on the civilian side. The outreach to India could be the centrepiece of this government’s foreign policy credentials going into the election; the manifold benefits of trade, including the positive spillover for other security aspects of the fraught Pakistan-India relationship, are undeniable; and with an economy struggling to return to a high growth path, every little bit can help — and yet the process of trade liberalisation with India has been gummed up because of parochial interests. For constituency politicians, even the impression of hurting their voters’ interests can be fatal — but then that is the point of a federal cabinet: to rise above narrow, local interests and promote policies that benefit society overall.

Over 65 years of a dispiriting relationship with India, there are few reasons or excuses that have not been proffered to thwart better ties. But at least this much has become clear: without bold and courageous political leadership, meaningful improvements in Pakistan-India relations will never materialise. The issues and disputes between Pakistan and India are very real. The hawks on the Indian side are equally real, as is the growing suspicion of Pakistan across the Indian elite in government, civil society and the media. But none of that is reason to stop trying. Trade is a win-win situation for both Pakistan and India; the federal cabinet needs to better educated in the matter.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Upwards, downwards[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]December 3rd, 2012[/RIGHT][/B]

After flying on their fancy bridges for long, Lahore’s minders have woken up to the need of going under at a crucial point. Kalma Chowk that has been subjected to much chopping and building under the current government is to be now given an underpass as well. As the sequence goes, they first made a road there, then came up with the bridges and are now digging for gold in the form of an underpass. Presuming all this is our top-most priority, shouldn’t they have begun with the underpass? The time is up for another few rows of trees, causing a lot of heartache to not just romantics but also to practical ones opposed to the arbitrary development model. In official books, the new underpass at Kalma Chowk was always on the cards and it was only a question of when. But still the entire exercise has come in for a lot of criticism. Much of this criticism has solid basis to it, often drawing upon the peculiar character of the city of Lahore, and made to sound like a long unending lament for lack of an official ear.

The antithesis is strong. Beginning with the more petty monetary side, a professional plan could have saved the taxpayers’ money. Under the erratic plan, of which Kalma Chowk is a prime example, newly laid roads have been dug up to create passages. If this wastage of public money spent on projects undertaken without any evidence of consultation with the people is not a big enough reason for concern, little heed has been paid to the argument which calls for spending money where it is more urgently needed. Where the environment and cultural preservation are concerned, these are subjects those who are trying to create a new Lahore virtually by submerging the old have never appeared to care for. It is almost impossible to get the message through to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif especially when he is in a creative mood. What his city requires at this moment is some relief from his speed, pause and reflection.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]New targets[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]December 3rd, 2012[/RIGHT][/B]

While Ashura passed off relatively peacefully in the days since Muharram 10, sectarian killings in Karachi, targeting mostly Shias, have resumed, with militants also attacking women and children. At least five people were killed in such attacks on Friday, including a man dropping off his 12-year-old daughter to school; the schoolgirl, who saw her father killed in front of her eyes, was injured in the attack. On Thursday, a husband and wife, employees of a local hospital, were gunned down on their way to work in what is also believed to be a sectarian attack. If these incidents are harbingers of a rising trend, it would mark a new low even for sectarian militants. Women and children indeed have died in terrorist bombings. Yet as police officials point out, the killing of the couple is probably the first incident in the city where a woman has been directly targeted in a sectarian murder. In an incident last month, an adviser to the Imamia Students Organisation was gunned down in front of his wife, but the killers spared the woman. Also, in the recent past we have witnessed militants target male members belonging to the same family, both Sunni and Shia.

Even in the shadowy world of religious militants women and children have usually been considered off-limits. Some of the ideologues of the modern jihadi movement have specifically outlawed the targeting of these two groups. Yet in an increasingly violent, anarchic scenario, sectarian militants seem to be doing away with such strictures. To them, nothing is sacred. Unfortunately, the core problem remains unaddressed. While blanketing cities with security cover during religious occasions may be a successful way to ward off terrorist strikes, no coherent strategy is being seen to combat the relentless, frequent waves of targeted killings. It is this menace which the security establishment must counter.