(1st April 2013)

Dismal ranking: UN report

THE disconnect between the rulers and the ruled has come into even starker relief than usual of late. Details of the obscene amount of wealth possessed by many of our erstwhile legislators have been laid bare thanks to electoral rules. Then there was that telling departing gesture by these august personalities whereby they gave themselves — with retrospective effect, no less — added perks and privileges. Against this backdrop, the statistics in the UNDP report released recently are a scathing indictment of those at the helm of this country. Pakistan is tied with Bangladesh at 146 out of 187 countries on the Human Development Index, just above Angola and Myanmar, slipping one place from its last ranking. Nearly half its population lives in poverty and it has one of the lowest investments in health (0.8 per cent) and education (1.8 per cent) in the world.

Predictably, political parties in their election manifestos have pledged to substantially increase investment in the health and education sectors if they come to power. However, the problems in these crucial sectors have hardly just come to the fore, nor are such promises anything new — although in the PTI’s case, they haven’t been put to the test yet. The bitter truth is that when push comes to shove, incumbent governments weasel out of electoral promises to take steps that will improve the lot of those in whose name they rule. Also, policy continuation is given short shrift and ongoing projects are dismantled in an effort to discredit the efforts of political rivals, regardless of their efficacy. Pakistan cannot afford a continuation of this myopic, cavalier approach. The only long-term resolution to the country’s militancy problem lies in a comprehensive effort to improve its people’s quality of life, rather than only increasing the defence budget, which went up by 6.8 per cent last year. Otherwise, the political elite may find that consigning multitudes to lead an existence that is “nasty, brutish and short” is a route to self-annihilation.

Insecure cities — The militant threat

A REPORT in this newspaper yesterday has once again underlined the growing threat that Pakistan’s cities face from the Taliban and militant activity — a threat that the media has been highlighting without having been able to motivate the state into action. Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta are already reeling from the wave of violence unleashed by militant elements. But the more subtle, though no less dangerous, aspects of the threat are often overlooked. First, in Lahore and Islamabad, the other capital cities, and in smaller cities across Pakistan, the threat also exists — lurking below the surface, but real nevertheless. Second, across the country, the state — the provincial and federal governments and the security and intelligence apparatus, both military and civilian — appear either paralysed or unwilling to confront the threat.

It is the state’s virtual abdication of its responsibility for ensuring law and order that the militants exploit, filling the vacuum with their own ideas and systems. In yesterday’s report in this newspaper on the virtual takeover of some parts of Karachi by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and affiliated militants, the complicity of the police or often just their unwillingness to take on a threat that is organised and lethal with the militants possibly better armed than the law enforcers is revealed in stark detail. In Peshawar, where brave police officers have laid down their lives fighting on the frontlines of the militant threat, the underlying problems have long been laid bare. Inadequate resources, political interference, lack of effective intelligence and treating militancy as a law and order problem instead of using specialised counterterrorism expertise are only some of the reasons why the law enforcers are unable to meet the challenge.

Ultimately, though, the spread of militancy in Pakistan’s cities is not just about one instrument of the state failing to do its job — it’s about a collective, and ongoing, failure. The deeper problem is of a declining state, one that appears to have lost the will to protect or transform for the better the lives of its citizenry. By the time the militants are emboldened enough to annex neighbourhoods, much of the battle would already have been lost and only a stirring rear guard action would be able to salvage the situation. Much of the fight has to be fought before, to identify emerging threats, know how to tamp them down and keep the cities secure. Unhappily, little of that is happening at the moment.

More time needed: Overseas vote

OVERSEAS Pakistanis should be able to vote in Pakistani elections, but as important as giving them that facility is making sure that it runs smoothly and is secure. Understandably, officials of the Election Commission of Pakistan have said that trying to put overseas voting in place in time for the upcoming elections, as the Supreme Court had suggested, would be risky. First, there are the basic challenges: determining who should be able to vote and how they will vote, setting up the infrastructure required at home and abroad, and ensuring that the process is a secure one in which votes aren’t lost, misdirected or tampered with. This stage also includes settling the fundamental question of whether overseas voters will constitute a separate constituency or vote from the last (or another) constituency they lived in while in Pakistan.

Then there are problems specific to the Pakistani expatriate community and electoral system. The high number of emigrants from certain areas means they have the ability to change election outcomes in those constituencies, which increases the costs of any manipulation or lapses. Also, the country’s electoral system is not a presidential one with a couple of candidates contesting elections. Numerous candidates run for each of hundreds of constituencies, which means an incredible volume of paperwork to be shared with foreign missions unless a system is worked out in which overseas voters form a single constituency or are registered for their home constituency ahead of time. Voting over the internet, the ECP has argued, would be too risky in terms of information security. Determining what the best mechanism is and putting it in place cannot be done in a few weeks. Overseas Pakistanis deserve to be able to vote. But they also deserve a user-friendly and secure system, even if that means waiting till the next elections.

(2nd April 2013)

Welcome nominations: Tribal women step forward

AMID the din of election rallies, the clash of political workers and scuffles and more over tickets and constituencies, two women from Pakistan’s conservative areas quietly stepped forward and filed nomination papers for the May 11 polls. It was a big step for those two women — Badam Zari from Bajaur and Nusrat Begum from Lower Dir — and an even bigger leap for electoral politics in Pakistan. Indeed the symbolism of the news cannot be highlighted enough. That women were willing to come forward and contest an election from an area where political parties usually collude to prevent female voters from exercising their choice cannot be celebrated enough. At the same time, these two women candidates remind the rest of the country, in fact the entire world, that Pakistan’s tribal areas are not simply synonymous with militancy. Behind the façade of violence, bomb blasts and gun-toting extremists are flesh and blood people who share the same aspirations and dreams as their counterparts elsewhere. And these dreams include exercising their political rights as citizens and women.

However, as Pakistan celebrates the message the nominations of these two women brings — even before it is known what their political message as electoral candidates is — it should not be forgotten that they are still campaigning in areas that are afflicted by violence and militancy where even riches and political influence cannot shield one from harm. As women, Badam Zari and Nusrat Begum are particularly vulnerable to terrorist threats and hence the state must do its best to protect them as they campaign. In fact, the state must provide protection to all other vulnerable candidates — after all, ensuring a free and fair election includes ensuring the equal participation of all candidates and not just those who can afford to keep themselves safe.

But it is not simply the state that needs to be reminded of its due role. Political parties also need to wake up to their responsibilities and do their bit to bring more women into the political mainstream. In this regard, they need to do far more than put together lists of their loyalists for the reserved seats in parliament. Instead, they should be nominating more women on their safe seats. And last but not least, they should be actively mobilising women to vote rather than colluding with each other to keep them away on polling day in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata. Now that would be a giant leap for the political parties, if they would take it.

What’s the point?: Spoiling national parks

PROTECT the environment of national parks or draw in the investors and tourists whose spending helps make such projects viable and desirable? On the one hand, there is the tug of the conservation instinct and the need to save flora and fauna from harm. On the other, there is the certain knowledge that tourists require roads and restaurants, restrooms and parking areas, and that developing a national park as an attractive educational and recreational spot requires construction that is bound to have an impact on the pristine quality of the area. Finding a balance may not be easy, but it has to be sought.

How does Pakistan score in this regard? On the books, the network of protectionist legislation looks quite reasonable. The trouble is, not just is there inefficient implementation, the laws also allow for loopholes and discretionary actions that cause havoc in a country where concern about the environment is generally afforded low priority. A case in point is Islamabad’s Margalla Hills National Park, once largely an area of wilderness that supported a fair variety of animals. But, as the director-general of the Pakistan Environment Protection Agency pointed out at a moot on Sunday, the Islamabad Wildlife Ordinance 1979 is so worded that it actually makes the job of environmentalists more difficult, allowing for construction and including a clause that allows the regulations to be bypassed at discretion. Such provisos have meant that prime locations in the park have fallen prey to unbridled commercialism. This is all very well for the investors and such sections of the spending public that are well-heeled, but environmentalists point out that the damage being sustained by the park area will prove irredeemable in the future. The same situation is found in several other park and heritage areas across the country, sometimes with the state itself playing the role of destructor. What is the point of deeming an area protected if that is not how it will be treated?

Dream and team: Imran Khan at Mingora

M-MEDIATELY after the polls, the party’s im-andar and im-mensely talented cadres will im-merse themselves in working for the im-plementation of the pr-im-e minister’s programme…. If this is an impolite implosion, it has been motivated by the dream itself. The speech on Sunday sounded like another lesson in faith: ‘I am, therefore, you will’, Imran Khan promised the people. After the Minar-i-Pakistan victory eight days earlier, the surprise lay not in the exhibition of his growing belief in himself but in the sign-watchers missing an important omen for ultimate victory: the venue for the latest jalsa by the skipper in Mingora, called the Grassy Ground. They listened attentively as their leader told them that a dream doesn’t quite remain a dream once he sees it. At the age of nine, he imagined himself playing for Pakistan and a decade later, he was rubbing shoulders with national cricketers on a tour of England. He next saw himself lifting the World Cup, a wish that was realised in 1992. Then the cancer hospital was achieved as it was visualised. Given this record and the trajectory of his current thoughts, he had to now quite naturally look for a dream that predicted a sweeping election victory for his Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

Even to the most imaginative mind, not all things come in a dream. Small details have still to be sorted out — for instance the selection of a dream team that can realise the vision. Here again Imran Khan has come to his own rescue. But as he vows he will — himself — fix the list of the PTI poll candidates, he appears to be threatening to over-apply himself as the answer to every question. He needs partners and cannot bowl from both ends at the same time.

__________________
Yes We Can Do It!

Sadistic pleasure: Poll scrutiny questions

THE manner in which the exercise of screening election candidates is being conducted cannot even be termed as childish. It is far worse. What is on display here is dripping with malice. At the same time, it speaks volumes for the current propensity to ridicule the most serious of matters. In making fun of the
aspirants for the May 11 election, the returning officers are taking on a mischief-making role whose origins have time and again been traced in history, quite often and logically, to Gen Ziaul Haq’s experiment in purity. But it is not impossible to locate the precursor of the current wave in the recent past. The exhibition emanates from the trend set by those who thrived on embarrassing, in fact humiliating, the politicians and other more vulnerable front men of the system. In one manifestation of this, the modern equi-valent of the dog taking on the bear became prime-time fare on the channels.

This trend emerged to plug the increasing gaps between popular demand and supply by the government and it has spread. Not even the orders of the honourable courts sufficed; the courts were allowed to act as a source of news in which the accused were not simply tried — they were grilled in the journalistic parlance. What is happening in the name of scrutiny of the poll candidates in the offices of the Election Commission of Pakistan these days is a spill-over that threatens to wash away some basic principles of common sense.

The Mirpurkhas can-didate who was asked about the number of his wives got off lightly. The question was as irrelevant as the reported observation on a woman candidate — that her family’s home life would be in a shambles if she was elected. However, on Thursday respected politician-columnist Ayaz Amir’s case brought out the true repercussions of the current application of the law. Mr Amir’s nomination papers for a seat in Chakwal were rejected over a portion of one of his columns. All this has been happening without any apparent instiga-tion on the part of rival candidates — as if even that could justify these instances. The officials are aided by Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution. The articles have been a source of controversy on their own. In combination with overeager officials who have notions about themselves as reformers, they have generated a trend that is far too dangerous to have any entertainment value.

‘None of the above’: Ballot paper option

WITH the general elections five weeks away, the printing of ballot papers must await, first, the prime minister’s recommendation to the president and, second, the issuance of an ordinance by the latter because the Election Commission of Pakistan has a new, if not fancy, idea. Without taking away anything from the hard work the ECP is doing under the guidance of Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim, we are at a loss to understand the utility and urgency of the ‘none of
the above’ option to be included in the ballot paper. That some countries do give this option to their voters doesn’t mean Pakistan should follow them. Conditions in Pakistan are vastly different and do not justify a phrase whose cumulative effect on the people’s psyche may erode their belief in democracy. The elections next month are going to be a landmark in our country’s history. For that reason the aim of all stakeholders should be to strengthen the people’s belief in the ability of their elected represen-tatives to serve them.

Four military interventions didn’t allow Pakis-tan to develop democratic institutions. This was obviously reflected in the quality of politicians.

Nevertheless, the completion of the five-year term by the last legis-latures testifies to the elected representatives’ ability to work democracy and push the process
forward. The ‘none of the above’ option could perhaps bewilder a voter and induce negative feelings about the process itself. Already there are anti-democratic forces waiting in the wings, and there are extremists in the religious right who believe democracy to be anti-thetical to Islam. The two schools of thought may otherwise be incompatible, but their views on democracy converge. In case 51 per cent of voters stamp the ‘none of the above’ box, a re-election will be required. Pakistan is not ready for this. If at all this option is to be included in the ballot paper, why the hurry? Why not leave it to the next parliament? The May 11 vote is too precious to be trifled with.

Forty years young: Mobile phones dominate

IT’S been a rather quiet birthday celebration considering that the mobile phone is one of the modern age’s most groundbreaking inventions. Wednesday marked the 40th anniversary of the first mobile call made with a handheld device by a Motorola engineer in New York. The grandfather of today’s slick Blackberries and Androids was a much clunkier device, resembling a brick, which cost thousands of dollars. Fast forward to the present and mobiles have gone from being expensive toys for technology geeks and corporate executives to Everyman’s essential accessory. Today millions of people across the world don’t leave home without their trusted mobile. And Pakistan is not immune to mobile mania.

Mobile phones were first introduced in the country in the early 1990s and with the gradual opening up of the telecom sector the number of service providers as well as users has grown. As per figures cited in the National Assembly last year, the number of mobile phone users in Pakistan is just under 120 million. Mobiles have proved to be great equalisers as their usage transcends economic lines: high-end smartphones and more basic devices both have a market here. In fact today mobile phones have become an essential part of life. That is why whenever there is a cellular shutdown due to terrorism threats a general sense of paralysis sets in. Though mobiles have had a largely positive effect on Pakistan, there have been negative side effects, such as the questionable use of phones while at the wheel or on a motorbike, all the way to using mobiles to trigger bombs. Better regulation is required to check the misuse of Sim cards, although on the whole, Pakistani society has greatly benefited from the now ubiquitous mobile

__________________
If you tremble with indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine.(Che Guevara)

(6th April 2013)

Troop deployment: Election day security

IF the Election Commission of Pakistan has deemed troop deployment necessary and GHQ has given the green signal, we fail to understand what has prompted the care-taker interior minister to reject the deployment of army men on election day. At a news conference on Thursday, the minister said army troops would only be called out should the police and paramilitary forces fail to keep the peace. The ECP had previously called for deploying army troops at all polling stations in Karachi and elsewhere in locations deemed sensitive. There is no denying that the threat of violence exists; the interior ministry itself said last month that several militant groups were seeking to derail the polls through acts of terrorism. Various places in the country were singled out as possible targets and in the days since two major militant strikes have occurred in Peshawar, while Rangers’ personnel have been attacked in Karachi.

Indeed, the police are the first line of defence and it is impractical to assume army troops can be posted at every polling station. However, there are places which need the army’s presence to decrease chances of rigging and to counter violence. Security experts point out two major areas of concern. Firstly, there are parts of Karachi considered ‘no-go’ areas — basically fiefdoms carved out by certain ethnic and political groups — as well as remote areas of Sindh dominated by feudal elements, where ballot box stuffing may occur. In such locations, the army’s presence may act as a deterrent to elements seeking to stuff the ballot. Secondly, there are parts of the country, such as in Fata, affected by militancy and insurgency where militant groups call the shots. While some of these areas might be inaccessible to the state, thus making the holding of polls practically impossible, larger army deployment may come in handy for security in areas cleared of militancy but where the threat remains. A task force has been set up comprising members of police, intelligence agencies and the ECP; this body needs to chalk out a comprehensive security plan about where to deploy whom.

Ultimately, whatever steps that need to be taken regarding the free, fair and secure conduct of polls lie within the ECP’s domain, not that of the interior ministry or any other government body. All stakeholders need to stay within their respective domains and the caretaker set-up should work to enforce the ECP’s decisions in all election-related matters and refrain from setting or changing the agenda.

Damning indictment: Human rights in 2012

PUT together, the numbers are shocking: in the past year, over 2,000 people were killed and more than 3,000 injured in 1,577 militant attacks across the country. In Karachi, more than 2,000 died in ethnic, sectarian and politically linked violence. Over 900 females were killed in the name of ‘honour’, and more than 100 members of the Shia Hazara community massacred in Balochistan. Even as the courts pursued the issue of ‘missing persons’ alleged to be in the illegal custody of various branches of the security forces, the bodies of at least 72 such people were found in Balochistan. Meanwhile, Pakistan is ranked at 151 out of 179 on the Press Freedom Index — at least 14 journalists were killed over the last year while the murder of Saleem Shahzad remained unsolved. Pakistan also continued to be among those countries where the highest number of people are dying of preventable diseases such as tuberculosis, polio and malaria. Whichever aspect is examined, the picture is utterly dismal.

These unpalatable facts were revealed on Thursday in the report on the State of Human Rights in 2012 put together by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. According to HRCP chairperson Asma Jahangir, the gravest issue is the killing of minorities — from Quetta to Gilgit-Baltistan and Karachi. Such has been the crisis of governance that, as HRCP secretary general I.A. Rehman pointed out, people are rapidly losing confidence and trust in the country’s institutions, including the courts. Things could not bode worse, perhaps, as the elections draw near. But there is a lesson to be learned and the country’s political parties ignore it at their own peril: while the handover of government from one elected assembly to another is especially laudable in Pakistan’s context, what the people desire is the firm hand of governance to steer the ship of state on the right course. The mantra of democracy will not go far if the country remains wracked by violence and poor policymaking that results in state institutions being in a shambles.

Must anarchy continue? Displaced Syrians

VIOLENCE alone is not driving the Syrian people out of their country. Instead, as an American refugee care official said, it is the decline in the means of livelihood and food availability that is leading to homelessness. Internally, according to UN estimates, there are four million displaced persons. Add to this the one million who have taken refuge in neighbouring countries, and we have almost one-fourth of Syria’s population of 23 million homeless. The number of fatalities is a matter of speculation, because mediapersons and rights workers find it difficult to enter Syria. Last month alone, over 6,000 reportedly died. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has not updated its figure of 70,000 dead for nearly two months, now estimates that the number could be in the vicinity of 120,000. The figure may be exaggerated, but it should nevertheless serve to focus the world’s attention on the humanitarian disaster in the heart of the Middle East.

Fighting continues because arms are available to both sides. The UN Security Council has not passed a single resolution banning arms sales to the Damascus regime. This permits Russia and China to keep supplying arms to the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The European Union is divided on arms for the rebels, because Al Qaeda fighters have now become a major component of the militias. The small arms supplied to the dissidents by Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey can keep the fighting going but the rebels cannot defeat the regime. This means the two-year-old slaughter will continue, with the miseries of the Syrian people increasing by the day. It seems some world powers and perhaps regional states want the anarchy to continue in a country that is considered Israel’s most implacable foe.

__________________
Yes We Can Do It!

Troop deployment: Election day security

IF the Election Commission of Pakistan has deemed troop deployment necessary and GHQ has given the green signal, we fail to understand what has prompted the care-taker interior minister to reject the deployment of army men on election day. At a news conference on Thursday, the minister said army troops would only be called out should the police and paramilitary forces fail to keep the peace. The ECP had previously called for deploying army troops at all polling stations in Karachi and elsewhere in locations deemed sensitive. There is no denying that the threat of violence exists; the interior ministry itself said last month that several militant groups were seeking to derail the polls through acts of terrorism. Various places in the country were singled out as possible targets and in the days since two major militant strikes have occurred in Peshawar, while Rangers’ personnel have been attacked in Karachi.

Indeed, the police are the first line of defence and it is impractical to assume army troops can be posted at every polling station. However, there are places which need the army’s presence to decrease chances of rigging and to counter violence. Security experts point out two major areas of concern. Firstly, there are parts of Karachi considered ‘no-go’ areas — basically fiefdoms carved out by certain ethnic and political groups — as well as remote areas of Sindh dominated by feudal elements, where ballot box stuffing may occur. In such locations, the army’s presence may act as a deterrent to elements seeking to stuff the ballot. Secondly, there are parts of the country, such as in Fata, affected by militancy and insurgency where militant groups call the shots. While some of these areas might be inaccessible to the state, thus making the holding of polls practically impossible, larger army deployment may come in handy for security in areas cleared of militancy but where the threat remains. A task force has been set up comprising members of police, intelligence agencies and the ECP; this body needs to chalk out a comprehensive security plan about where to deploy whom.

Ultimately, whatever steps that need to be taken regarding the free, fair and secure conduct of polls lie within the ECP’s domain, not that of the interior ministry or any other government body. All stakeholders need to stay within their respective domains and the caretaker set-up should work to enforce the ECP’s decisions in all election-related matters and refrain from setting or changing the agenda.

Damning indictment: Human rights in 2012

PUT together, the numbers are shocking: in the past year, over 2,000 people were killed and more than 3,000 injured in 1,577 militant attacks across the country. In Karachi, more than 2,000 died in ethnic, sectarian and politically linked violence. Over 900 females were killed in the name of ‘honour’, and more than 100 members of the Shia Hazara community massacred in Balochistan. Even as the courts pursued the issue of ‘missing persons’ alleged to be in the illegal custody of various branches of the security forces, the bodies of at least 72 such people were found in Balochistan. Meanwhile, Pakistan is ranked at 151 out of 179 on the Press Freedom Index — at least 14 journalists were killed over the last year while the murder of Saleem Shahzad remained unsolved. Pakistan also continued to be among those countries where the highest number of people are dying of preventable diseases such as tuberculosis, polio and malaria. Whichever aspect is examined, the picture is utterly dismal.

These unpalatable facts were revealed on Thursday in the report on the State of Human Rights in 2012 put together by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. According to HRCP chairperson Asma Jahangir, the gravest issue is the killing of minorities — from Quetta to Gilgit-Baltistan and Karachi. Such has been the crisis of governance that, as HRCP secretary general I.A. Rehman pointed out, people are rapidly losing confidence and trust in the country’s institutions, including the courts. Things could not bode worse, perhaps, as the elections draw near. But there is a lesson to be learned and the country’s political parties ignore it at their own peril: while the handover of government from one elected assembly to another is especially laudable in Pakistan’s context, what the people desire is the firm hand of governance to steer the ship of state on the right course. The mantra of democracy will not go far if the country remains wracked by violence and poor policymaking that results in state institutions being in a shambles.

Must anarchy continue? Displaced Syrians

VIOLENCE alone is not driving the Syrian people out of their country. Instead, as an American refugee care official said, it is the decline in the means of livelihood and food availability that is leading to homelessness. Internally, according to UN estimates, there are four million displaced persons. Add to this the one million who have taken refuge in neighbouring countries, and we have almost one-fourth of Syria’s population of 23 million homeless. The number of fatalities is a matter of speculation, because mediapersons and rights workers find it difficult to enter Syria. Last month alone, over 6,000 reportedly died. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has not updated its figure of 70,000 dead for nearly two months, now estimates that the number could be in the vicinity of 120,000. The figure may be exaggerated, but it should nevertheless serve to focus the world’s attention on the humanitarian disaster in the heart of the Middle East.

Fighting continues because arms are available to both sides. The UN Security Council has not passed a single resolution banning arms sales to the Damascus regime. This permits Russia and China to keep supplying arms to the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The European Union is divided on arms for the rebels, because Al Qaeda fighters have now become a major component of the militias. The small arms supplied to the dissidents by Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey can keep the fighting going but the rebels cannot defeat the regime. This means the two-year-old slaughter will continue, with the miseries of the Syrian people increasing by the day. It seems some world powers and perhaps regional states want the anarchy to continue in a country that is considered Israel’s most implacable foe.

__________________
If you tremble with indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine.(Che Guevara)

A timely rap: LHC’s order

THE Lahore High Court’s decision on Friday to restrain returning officers from putting “random intrusive and inquisitive questions” to candidates filing nomination papers is timely and was necessary. Many overzealous returning officers have created an utter mess, overshot their mandate and embarrassed and in some cases rejected the nomination papers of quite a few candidates after subjecting them to asinine questions. Often, the scrutiny took the form of interrogation. In our comment on Friday we had occasion to dwell upon some of the ROs’ proclivity for the laughable. Evidently, the absurdity of some of the ROs’ bird-brained approach to the issue and protests by rights groups and segments of civil society seem to have had an effect, for the LHC’s interim order appeared nearer to the meaning of the Constitution’s Articles 62 and 63, themselves controversial. In its ruling, the court told the ROs to question a candidate only if what he had said in the declaration on oath conflicted with tangible and credible information available on record or from other authorised agents. Obviously, the ROs’ conduct of scrutiny had incensed the higher judiciary, compelling Justice Mansoor Ali Shah to aver that the ROs’ aim should not be to carry out a “witch-hunt or demean the politicians”.

The order to bar TV from covering the scrutiny process was prompted by some ROs’ tendency to play king before an audience of millions. The media will still cover the scrutiny process, but the ban on TV coverage inside the courtroom should serve to restrain the ROs and take away a bit of the McCarthyism that has been in evidence in their disposition. More important, before the candidates appeal against their disqualification, the ROs should themselves have the good sense to review the cases where the rejection stemmed from questions which had, to quote Judge Shah, “no nexus with information” given in the nomination papers.

Although better sense has finally prevailed and the Election Commission of Pakistan has instructed the ROs not to continue with their irrelevant questions, the ECP certainly took its time to assert itself, initially refusing to own responsibility for the ROs, who it said were members of the judiciary. No doubt this is the case but they are working for the ECP. Their functions and actions in their official capacity have a bearing on the electoral process and it is a relief that the ECP finally appears to have woken up to the significance of this.

The human dimension: Attack on Rangers

THEY were almost through the barricaded gate of the paramilitary force’s offices and had started to relax and remove their safety gear at the end of their shift. And then, what has happened often before happened again last Wednesday, this time in Karachi’s Korangi area: an explosion of sound and force, another bomb attack with Rangers personnel as the target. Three men succumbed to their injuries on their way to hospital while a fourth died during surgery. Three were wounded. As if to underline their isolation, there were no knots of worried relatives at the hospital, none of the frenzied confusion that usually follows such attacks; hardly any of these men had family in the city. Practically, the only mourners, and well-wishers of the injured, present were other Rangers’ personnel, their friends and colleagues, standing silently in the corridors — no doubt contemplating when their own luck might run out.

If this paints a bleak and infinitely demoralising picture, it is nothing less than the truth. There’s probably hardly anyone in Pakistan who does not fear being caught up in violence of some sort at any point, but the threat is undeniably far greater to those manning the front lines: the law enforcement personnel, including the police, paramilitary forces such as the Rangers and soldiers. The top echelons of these organisations can often legitimately be faulted for insufficient strategising or coordination, or for failing to properly equip or train the men on the ground. And, it’s also true that, when seen in the context of duty alone, confronting the enemy, with all its attendant risks, is very much a part of the job description of these men. But spare a thought for the human dimension of the situation outlined above, the predicament of personnel that in many situations are sitting ducks for militants and criminals alike. Is there anything that society can do? Compassion and support is the very least that can be offered.

Memories of Double Shah: Dubious ventures

REPORTS of a pyramid scheme being run by certain elements, some linked to mosques, are reviving memories of Double Shah, except this time the scam comes clothed in the garb of religious sanction. A recent report in this newspaper throws light on a scheme being promoted by some mosques called a ‘Musharika’ which purports to offer returns as high as 120pc to be shared with the ‘investors’. Such ventures are billed as ‘Islamic’ because they are supposedly built on a profit-and-loss-sharing basis. This makes it all the more disturbing because it appears to put the swindle beyond regulatory powers, although the state has every legal right and the moral obligation to regulate these schemes to protect the interest of ordinary investors. The latter may not have the means to determine the safety of these instruments while being lured by the promise of substantial returns.

Thus far only the ‘profits’ are being shared, with the result that large amounts of money are being drawn into these dubious ventures. What is not being shared is information on how the funds are being placed. It is crucial to understand this, given the size of the returns being offered. What’s even more troubling to contemplate are the consequences when the inevitable losses have to be shared. Earliest reports put the amountof money circulating through these schemes at Rs50bn, which means the scam is already larger than the Double Shah scandal. No legitimate business can offer these returns, and nothing is known about how the mosques in question are utilising the funds placed in their trust. It is imperative that the schemes be brought under regulatory scrutiny at the earliest because such ventures always end in tears for naïve investors.

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If you tremble with indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine.(Che Guevara)

08.04.2013

Passports’ backlog: Artificial delay

ACCORDING to a probe carried out by the interior ministry and the Federal Investigation Agency, the long delay in issuing and renewing passports is largely due to bending of the rules by officials. Hundreds of thousands of applicants are suffering on account of what appears to be a deliberate delay in the bidding process for lamination patches for passports. Those responsible include officials in the interior ministry and the passports’ directorate — they had apparently wanted to award the contract to favourites without following the procurement rules. Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court has stayed the awarding of the contract for lamination patches to a US firm as a French contender has challenged the bidding process. Around 700,000 passport applications are pending, affecting Pakistanis from all strata of society.

Students wanting to study abroad are affected, as are businessmen and those who need to undertake emergency travel. The backlog has put overseas Pakistanis in a particularly difficult situation as millions of citizens work abroad. As foreign governments have strict immigration laws, the expiry of a passport can mean job loss and a one-way ticket home. Some missions in the Gulf states have started to manually renew passports, but this is a temporary solution. Besides, manually extending the validity of passports does not solve the problem of first-time applicants. There are also disturbing reports that applications routed through passport ‘agents’ — a euphemism for touts — are being given priority by officials after applicants pay more than the notified fees. Normal booklets are officially supposed to be issued in 12 days while urgent passports should be ready in five days. But due to the current backlog it is taking up to two months for urgent passports and double that time (and more) for normal booklets, thus making it difficult for passport applicants to make travel plans.

The caretaker set-up needs to resolve this issue on an urgent basis, while it is hoped the IHC will expedite the hearing of the case so that the contract can be legally awarded and the procurement of lamination patches proceeds, keeping in mind the suffering of the public. In the meantime, the interior ministry needs to come up with a plan to clear the backlog as soon as possible; one thing it can do is to crack down on the agents and their accomplices on the inside so that only citizens who lodge their applications through legal channels have their passports issued. Those responsible for creating this artificial shortage and sabotaging what was a relatively efficient system must also be hauled up.

Overdrive mode: Tax revenues

AFTER all the talk of out-of-the-box thinking, it looks like we’re back to the oldest gimmicks in the book. Everything the Federal Board of Revenue is doing these days is a reflection of how it has always behaved — except that in an interim government without a full-time finance minister, there’s much more room for discretionary authority to be exercised. We’ve seen the revenue target revised downward this fiscal year, as in previous years. Yet the FBR is still left with an upward climb of almost a trillion rupees in the final quarter of the current fiscal year. Delays in the appointment of a full-time federal finance minister are not helping since the interim prime minister is reportedly wary of taking any far-reaching decisions, like approving an amnesty scheme. Standing alone at the foot of this mountain, the FBR chairman appears to be acting vigorously to wring every additional drop of revenue out of the system, while pushing hard to expand the scope of his discretionary powers by trying to get a reluctant interim prime minister to approve the tax amnesty scheme.

All indications tell us this will end the exact same way it always does. Every final quarter of the fiscal year turns into a Herculean effort to meet an unrealisable target, and always the revenue target is revised around this point in time. Then come the shakedowns. This time they’ve netted the textile sector, with all its clout neutralised at the exit of the elected government. Now they’re brandishing their audit powers towards another set of companies. Additionally, they’ve hiked the sales tax on imported tea, which was brought down to 5pc in order to curb smuggling through the Afghan Transit Trade channel, and upped it to 16pc. After a year of talk about databases, and netting 3.5 million new taxpayers and the ironic wonders of amnesty schemes, clearly we’re back to the oldest playbook in the business all over again: shake down those who are already in the net.

The big meltdown: Glaciers on the retreat

AWAY from the din of politics and the immediacy of militant strife, a disaster of enormous proportions is silently evolving in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan mountains up north, one that could in time impact the length and breadth of Pakistan. The peaks are home to some 15,000 glaciers which, as a result of rising temperatures, are retreating at an alarming rate of almost 40 to 60 metres a decade, leaving behind glacial lakes in their wake. Fifty-two such lakes, an inherently unstable phenomenon that can trigger devastating flash floods, have been classified as dangerous to human settlements. Parts of Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral have already suffered floods on this count in 2010. The melting of the glaciers will also ultimately lead to a rise in sea levels, threatening coastal areas and cities such as Karachi. These facts were highlighted recently at a meeting to review the progress of a four-year project between the government and international organisations to deal with the fallout of climate change in Pakistan.

By most estimates, Pakistan will be one of the countries hardest hit by climate change. It is therefore encouraging that the government is taking steps such as setting up meteorological observatories at sites vulnerable to glacial lake outburst floods and the planned establishment of automated weather stations in the area which should lead to improved data collection, an essential requirement for a well-calibrated response. The project also aims to develop the capacity of the communities at risk. Given the widespread repercussions of climate change on all of Pakistan, the media could also play its part by highlighting the dangers posed by activities such as deforestation and the destruction of mangroves and encouraging environmentally friendly practices so that we are better prepared to meet the challenge.

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

09.04.2013

Righting the wrongs: Disqualified candidates

AS the election process swings into the next phase, in which appeals against decisions on candidates’ nominations will be filed until April 10 and decided upon by April 17, it is time to fix some of the errors that have been made over the last week. At least two serious kinds of anomalies have appeared in the rejection of candidates’ applications to contest elections so far. First, even where some candidates have not been convicted by a court, returning officers have seen fit to disqualify them. Barring a conviction under the law that clearly disqualifies a candidate, the mere institution of a case, or even several cases, against an individual should not be used to deny him or her the right to contest elections. The right to contest, and for voters to elect representatives they see fit, has to be established as a more sacrosanct right than the desire to keep individuals out of the electoral process simply because they are deemed unfit to represent the public.

Second, in some very high-profile instances, different returning officers reached opposite conclusions on nomination forms of the same individual. The fact that an individual can stand from multiple seats is a quirk of the Pakistani system that eventually needs to be ironed out but in the here and now, the onus is on returning officers to apply the law uniformly. The case of former president and dictator Pervez Musharraf illustrates both problems. He has not been convicted by any court yet for any crime — no matter how obvious his crime in suspending the constitution twice may be — and yet returning officers in Karachi, Kasur and Islamabad have disqualified him. Meanwhile, a returning officer in Chitral correctly observed that with no conviction against Musharraf yet, his papers were otherwise in order. Nisar Ali Khan, the
PML-N leader from Rawalpindi, has an even more peculiar distinction: he was declared qualified to run and also disqualified to run for office by separate returning officers in adjoining constituencies in the same city.

These, and other, problems that manifested themselves during the initial scrutiny period are largely rooted in the lack of clear directions to the returning officers, and even contradictory advice from various institutions. One way to look at it is as the teething problems of a nascent democracy, while the less charitable view is that there was a deliberate attempt to queer the electoral pitch by anti-democratic forces. It is time for the appeals process to right the several wrongs committed.

Futility of violence: Pressuring Dawn

AFTER two days of violence that saw the burning of copies of Dawn and the manhandling of its hawkers in many parts of Sindh, the Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz chose a saner path on Sunday, called off its campaign and offered to talk to us. We wish sanity had dawned on the party leadership earlier. The JSMM is not the only party to have chosen the path of violence to draw attention to its perceived grievances. Organisations and parties, rural and urban and perhaps more deadly than the JSMM, have organised ‘boycotts’ — a euphemism for brute force — but failed, because this paper cannot be so easily browbeaten. Even state power has stood frustrated in its attempts to have the paper submit to its demands. Denying the paper ads was often used as the weapon of choice, while at least one Dawn editor was thrown into prison — but the paper stood firm, refusing to compromise on its principles.

Virtually all political elements — from nationalist groups to mainstream political juggernauts — have often complained to us against what they believed to be lack of adequate coverage for them. We have always expressed our readiness to listen to them and, where necessary, rectify the inadvertent imbalance. We do not claim infallibility. We are human, and it is quite possible for us, like any newspaper in the world, to err in the choice of news and views in the limited space available. But still,
if any party feels it is not getting what it feels is proper coverage, it has every right to make its views heard — in a civilised way. We are not partial to any group or party, but we do admit we have one bias, and it is reflected in our unalloyed commitment to the freedom of the press. Dawn will not compro-mise on this fundamental principle of democracy, human rights and civilised existence, and will continue to regard pressure tactics as unacceptable and counterproductive.

Taj Muhammad Langah: A career on the periphery

WITH Taj Muhammad Langah’s passing on Sunday, the focus, even if fleetingly, is on those politicians who are committed to a cause but condemned forever to a political journey on the periphery. Langah championed the rights of the Seraiki-speaking people long before the banner was taken up by ‘mainstream’ political parties moved by their own power needs. Once the new harbingers of change arrived on the scene, it was almost a foregone conclusion that a politician like him, who had long been prevented from reaching the power circles which dictated and decided, would not find too many mainstream voices speaking of his pioneering contributions to the cause they now flaunted as their own. This is how the system works — it inevitably creates a parallel narrative to hail the victims of the mainstream’s apathy.

For those who have been following politics in Punjab for long, Taj Muhammad Langah was one prominent PPP leader who lost the 1970 elec-tion because Z.A. Bhutto couldn’t quite make the important trip to the area where Langah took on a deeply entrenched political heavyweight. The PPP swept the polls in Multan and Langah himself secured more than 50,000 votes but lost to a rival who was rooted in the system the PPP was trying to dismantle. The name of that landlord was Mumtaz Daultana, later dispatched by the PPP government to London as Pakistan’s high commissioner — one of the first signs of Bhutto’s new policy of making peace with the feudal in Pun-jab.
Langah drifted away and towards the PPP more than once, but the Daultana episode in which he had acted as the face of an anti-status quo PPP continues to be an important episode in the rehabilitation of the landlord after the pro-mising 1970 landslide in Punjab.

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

The larger picture: Treason hearing

FOUR military dictators have come and gone but never before has one been summoned to court to answer for his crimes against the Constitution. Pervez Musharraf may not have been in court yesterday but his determination to return to Pakistan and participate in the upcoming elections has already triggered events that could have far-reaching consequences for the country’s latest attempt to entrench democratic norms. Essential here, more than ever, is that justice be done and also be seen to be done. The chief justice recusing himself from the hearings was a welcome first step given how the ex-military strongman targeted Chief Justice Chaudhry personally. Another good sign was that the two-member bench that began hearings yesterday demonstrated no undue haste or eagerness to see Gen Musharraf behind bars or gratuitously humiliated. The ex-president and dictator may have shown enormous contempt for the Constitution and democratic process but the majesty of that very system requires that he be treated fairly and lawfully.

As the proceedings continue in the weeks ahead, it is essential that the focus not remain on simply the events of 2007, when the then-president targeted the judiciary in an attempt to ensure he could continue in power for a third term. The original sin of Gen Musharraf occurred in 1999 when he ousted the elected government of then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif who had attempted to sack his army chief — an ill-advised move that was nevertheless Mr Sharif’s political and legal right. In that episode, Gen Musharraf far from acted alone and history is yet to reveal who the protagonists were and what role each individual played. Similarly, in the continuation of Gen Musharraf’s patently unconstitutional role — first in the form of the three-year window given to him until 2002 by his handpicked Supreme Court and then in manipulating the parliamentary process until 2007 — there are many, many figures involved, and each of them has much to answer for.

If handled correctly, a trial of Gen Musharraf can help the country and its polity come to terms with the many anti-democratic chapters of its history. That the opportunity has arisen at a moment the country is preparing for an unprecedented, civilian-led transition is one of those quirks of history. Ultimately, for the democratic project to become irreversible, state and society will have to internalise democratic norms — and here is a moment to both reconcile with the past and set a precedent for the future.

Industry suffers: Power shortage in Punjab

THE power situation has become grimmer in the last few weeks in parts of the country. Unfortunately, the worst is yet to come, particularly in Punjab, as temperatures rise and people switch on cooling devices. Not including Karachi, the countrywide electrici-ty shortfall has crossed 4,000MW because of insufficient fuel for production and a reduction in hydel generation. This shortfall averaged 7000MW at its peak last summer, leaving consumers to cope with daily power cuts of eight to 10 hours. As the gap widens, power distribution companies in Punjab have even started cutting supplies to industry on dedicated feeders to reduce shortages for urban domestic and commercial consumers. The industrial units on common feeders providing electricity to a mix of users are facing cuts of up to 12 hours. This could intensify feelings that Punjab’s industry is facing discrimination. The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association, the body representing the powerful textile fac-tory owners, has already cried foul, accusing the caretaker government of meting out shabby treatment to the province’s industry. Other business associations and chambers of commerce and industry in Punjab have also joined the chorus. They are demanding that all provinces should equally bear the burden of power cuts. Their concerns are valid. The power crunch is making them uncompetitive not only in the international markets but also in the domestic market vis-à-vis their competitors in Karachi and other parts of the country.

It would be wrong to blame the caretakers for the crisis. Growing demand, dwindling generation, huge untargeted power subsidies, distribution losses, electricity theft and years of mismanagement at the highest level have brought the country to such a pass. But the caretakers can improve the situation to some extent. They could ensure continuous gas supply for factories with in-house generation capacity and the uninterrupted availability of electricity to the rest of the industry to run at least two shifts a day, as well as take steps for the optimal utilisation of installed generation capacity so that the miseries of manufacturers and other consumers are minimised.

Changed world: Wikileaks cables

THE founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, has been taking shelter in the embassy of Ecuador in London since last summer, fearing arrest and eventual extradition to the United States. The man who leaked the classified US diplomatic cables, Bradley Manning, pleaded guilty to the charge in February in the hope of escaping the more serious allegation of “aiding the enemy”. WikiLeaks, however, is continuing to play a valuable part in bringing to light information that the US apparently wanted hidden from the public eye. In a move that will prove invaluable no doubt to researchers, on Monday it launched the ‘Public Library of US Diplomacy’, a searchable archive containing 1.7 million US State Department documents from 1973 to 1976, known as the ‘Kissinger Cables’. The archive includes the 250,000 cables leaked by WikiLeaks in 2010. The latest cables had been declassified but could be accessed only through the US National Archives in a non-searchable PDF format. With all this information now available at the click of a mouse, light is bound to be shed on parts of history that have so far been kept under wraps.

The charges against Mr Assange have yet to be proved or disproved, but what’s certain is that the US is unhappy with the leaks. However, the US administration and indeed all other governments around the world need to understand that in the digital age the old tricks of doing business — dabbling in shady manoeuvres and then keeping mum about it — is increasingly unviable. With methods of mass dissemination easily available, and the ability to remain anonymous, there will always be whistleblowers. If just for this reason, governments need to keep their hands clean and records pristine. Since governments are accountable to their people, they need to operate with greater transparency and fairness.

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If you tremble with indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine.(Che Guevara)

(11th April 2013)

Flawed policy: Rise of Mangal Bagh

USING militants as proxies is a flawed policy. Although this assertion has proved correct time and again, the Pakistani establishment has failed to abandon the policy. The latest evidence that this strategy has backfired comes in the form of the rise of the curiously named Mangal Bagh, a militant leader from the Khyber tribal region who reportedly enjoyed tacit state support to keep the TTP at bay. However, while Mangal Bagh had already turned his guns on the state, it has now emerged that he has joined forces with the Taliban after previously distancing himself from them. While he heads the Laskhar-i-Islam, his own militant group, he has also been chosen as the TTP’s ‘supreme commander’ for Khyber. The alliance will likely strengthen the TTP as it battles the army for control of the Tirah valley and its surrounding areas. Reports indicate that the militants are putting up stiff resistance. The militants also pose a danger to Peshawar, which is not too far from the areas currently under the extremists’ grip.

Mangal Bagh is a protégé of Mufti Munir Shakir, who previously led the LI. The mufti, belonging to the Deobandi school of thought, railed against Pir Saifur Rahman and his Barelvi-leaning Ansarul Islam, which was believed to enjoy government support. Both groups also fought a vigorous war over FM radio, in which they preached their respective versions of Islam in attempts to convert the local flock to their creed. From initially being involved in a sectarian conflict, Mangal Bagh went on to become Khyber’s most powerful militant. His rise is similar to that of Fazlullah in Malakand; Mangal Bagh established a parallel administration, including ‘courts’ and lock-ups, in Bara while the state looked the other way. But also like Fazlullah, he turned out to be too slippery to handle; now, along with his newfound allies in the TTP, he is occupying territory and giving the state a tough fight.

It is evident that in the short term, the state needs to clear and hold the territory occupied by the militants and pursue the current operation to its logical end — which means destroying the militant infrastructure and bringing the leaders to justice. In the long term, it should be conclusively settled that doing business with violent extremists is a dangerous and unwise proposition. Any militant group that challenges the state’s writ or threatens to do so must be dealt with before it turns into a monster.

Ambition and reality: PTI manifesto

THOSE who claim to be working for change and who insist on being the alternative must aim high. And this is the impression the PTI’s election manifesto creates as the party renews the search for a welfare state according to its interpretation of the ideals set by the Quaid and Allama Iqbal. The party promises to work towards a uniform system of education, says it will transfer power to the grassroots within three months of being elected and overcome the crippling electricity shortage within three years. The PTI vows to create jobs, to establish Pakistan’s relations with the outside world on the basis of mutual respect and to ensure parliamentary oversight of the defence budget. It says it will pursue an indigenously evolved policy on the war on militancy and reiterates the stance of its chief on dialogue as the preferred means to engage with the militants. Among the more contentious issues, the manifesto pledges to impose a 15pc agriculture tax on landholdings exceeding 50 acres.

Launching the manifesto on Tuesday, Imran Khan must have felt the need to assure the people about his party’s and, more importantly, his own ability to deliver on these high promises. He sought to invoke examples of what he has achieved — the cancer hospital — comparing these with the failure of the PTI’s main opponents to build institutions. This may be an effective tactic given the evidence which indicates that a large number of Pakistanis are looking to establish new norms to save the system from dying. Still, while the manifesto gives a compact guideline for PTI workers to take to the voters, it will provide fodder to sceptics who have seen similar documents in the past leading to nothing significant. The agenda essentially requires not simply coming to power but doing so with a huge popular mandate. Take the promise of a uniform education system: for this to happen Imran Khan will have to live up to his prediction of sweeping the polls clean and proper.

Dangerous development: Al Qaeda factions’ merger

THE merger of Al Qaeda’s Iraqi and Syrian factions shows how a state of prolonged anarchy can give rise to extremism and militancy. On Monday, Iraq’s Al Qaeda chapter, headed by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, announced over its website it had united with Jabhat al-Nusra, which emerged in 2012 as one of Syria’s major rebel factions. The Iraqi chapter, headed by Al-Baghdadi, is titled ‘The Islamic State of Iraq’. After the merger, the new entity will be known as ‘The Islamic State in Iraq and Levant’. The name itself underlines the militant leaders’ ambitions and goals.

Even before the formal merger was announced, it was known that the Al-Baghdadi faction was funding half of the Syrian rebels’ budget. Already the two factions share training bases, intelligence networks, arms and logistics. Announcing the merger, Al-Baghdadi said the Syrian people would have no separate leader, implying that he himself will be the sole commander.

Of late, Al Qaeda’s focus of attention has been shifting from the Af-Pak region because the anarchy in the heart of the Middle East provides an ideal ground for its militants to operate. Reports suggest Al Qaeda and allied groups have occupied a chunk of territory on the Iraq-Syria border and turned it into a base of operation. They have reason to be optimistic because regional and other powers continue to supply them with arms. This highlights the folly in the world’s attitude towards the ‘Arab Spring’. Where the struggle against authoritarian regimes had been totally indigenous, the dictators’ fall led to elections and the establishment of democratic governments — as in Tunisia and Egypt. But where foreigners have intervened with arms supplies or outright military intervention there has been an utter mess. Syria is a prime example.

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Yes We Can Do It!