[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Balochistan conundrum[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]July 18th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

The official pretence that all is well in Balochistan, aside from the actions of some outside agents, quite often runs into trouble. This has recently happened at Kohlu, where four members of the Frontier Corps (FC) were killed in a clash with Baloch militants. The Baloch Liberation Army, which has taken credit for the attack, says that the killings were revenge for the death of several women and children by the FC. The security forces have denied these allegations.

But all this is in many ways entirely irrelevant. The fact of the matter, detailed in reports by more than one human rights watch group, is that deep anger seethes in Balochistan. Many different kinds of battles are being fought there and, to make matters worse, the FC is a much hated force, its presence despised by many across the province. The prolonged oppression of the Baloch people, not only over the past decade but also in previous eras, only makes matters worse. The situation that we hear of from Kohlu is a reminder that something needs to be done urgently to tackle a situation that is worsening by the day. Skirmishes between security forces and local groups who, with increased fervour, express their desire for autonomy and their determination to obtain it, only make matters worse — each such event adding to the air of hatred that runs through the vast territory of a province, the grievances of which have been ignored for far too long.

It is time for authorities to open up its tightly-closed eyes and tackle the issue of Balochistan head on. If the problems are not addressed now, they will keep worsening and perhaps reach a point where nothing can be done. Armed action against the militants is useless and only adds to the tensions. It is no solution to the problem because such an approach ignores the symptoms which are causing the frustration and the resentment among the people of the Balochistan. What we need is a diplomatic settlement and a process of dialogue with all stake holders that can lead towards it. This must begin now. One — important — starting point could be the government ensuring that the abductions of teachers, students, intellectuals and in fact ordinary Baloch ends and that the issue of missing persons is resolved once and for all.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]
Resignation of SBP governor[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]July 18th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Oscar Wilde once said, “To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.” Well, Pakistan has now lost its third State Bank governor in three years and it looks like nothing but incompetence on the part of the government. Shahid Kardar confirmed in an interview that he had handed in his resignation but said he would only explain his reasons once the resignation has been accepted. His predecessor, Salim Raza, had officially quit for personal reasons but reportedly he was extremely unhappy with the government’s attempts to curtail the central bank’s independence. Mr Kardar, it is believed, does not want to agree to printing more money to meet the government’s demand for increased expenditures and to meet financial obligations (one report suggests that part of this may have to do with extending the allocation for the Benazir Income Support Programme).

Mr Kardar’s stance is correct for reasons related both to finance and governance. Inflation is well above double digits and printing more money will only exacerbate matters. Rather than meeting its debt obligations by raising revenue, the government has preferred to just print more currency. A state bank governor who refuses to exercise that option could force the government to improve its tax collection and eliminate untargeted subsidies. With the government now exerting pressure on Mr Kardar to bend to its will on the issue of monetary policy, he seems to have exercised the only honourable option that was available to him.

That said, even if resignation was the right decision for him, that does not mean it will be good for the country. With an IMF team due in the country later this month, the timing of the resignation could not have come at a worse time. The governor had been popular with the IMF because he supported many of its economic remedies and the acting governor may not have the same rapport with them. At this precarious time, Pakistan desperately needs stability at the central bank. That this is absent is the fault entirely of the government.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]An end to KESC impasse?[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]July 18th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

With Ramazan now just a couple of weeks away, it has become more vital than ever that the KESC management and its workers resolve their months-long dispute and bring the impasse to an end. Right now, it is the workers who are out on the street; if the supply of electricity to the city isn’t restored then those fasting all day will be sure to join them. Here is the situation as it stands: The management insists layoffs are necessary to keep the utility company functioning and has even offered to pay workers their wages for a while if they stay at home. The workers, who earn the bulk of their money unofficially through bribes for illegal connections, have protested — often violently. Despite government involvement, there seems to be no end to this dispute. Meanwhile, it is the beleaguered residents of Karachi who have to suffer the consequences. With KESC workers on strike, there is no one around to fix broken wires, destroyed transformers and the like. There have been many reports of these workers taking huge amounts in bribes just to carry out routine maintenance. There are also accusation that it is the workers themselves who have sabotaged transmission lines and cables. Unconscionably, the striking workers have also resorted to violence and occupied the roads near the KESC head office, the Karachi Press Club and, on occasion, even the Governor House. As tends to be the case in Karachi, the workers have political support behind them, which only adds to the difficulty of finding a solution.

It is impossible to guess what the endgame may be but it will not be pretty. The workers seem to be refusing to budge an inch, and the same goes for the management. In such a situation, anything could happen, including the government re-taking control of the power utility. One hopes an amicable solution is reached because this option, given the history of government mismanagement of KESC, may be the least desirable.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]‘AfPak’ post-US withdrawal[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B][B][RIGHT]July 19th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

It seems that before the Americans in Afghanistan get around to talking to the Taliban in full earnest, someone is bent upon killing important people in Kandahar and Kabul. After President Hamid Karzai’s half-brother was killed by his own guard in Kandahar, his top adviser, and member of the country’s parliament, Hashim Watanwal, has been killed by gunmen in Kabul. Another person close to the president, Jan Mohammad Khan, a former governor of southern Uruzgan province, may have been killed too, as the gunfight in Kabul was still going on at the time of writing.

The Americans and their Nato allies think they can start leaving Afghanistan after beginning the process of handing over the country to the newly raised and trained Afghan army. Seven regions will be ‘transitioned’ over the week and the total exercise could take up to two years to complete. The ‘handing over’ of Mazar-e-Sharif, Herat and Lashkar Gah — all situated away from the Pashtun-dominated south and southeast — will become test cases, and the results will be observable soon enough. There is one region, that of Bamiyan in the centre of the country, where there will be no resistance as it is Shia-dominated and is impervious to Taliban penetration. But such regions may well be subject to invasion by the Taliban once, the Americans leave.

The army and the police that will take over the task of peacekeeping and fighting terrorism are problematic in a country that ranks low on most basic socio-economic and human development indicators. There is attrition too, in the face of Taliban terrorism and there is fear that the trained forces may scatter in the face of the Taliban onslaught in which the Taliban from Pakistan — their non-Pashtun allies in Pakistan not excluded — will certainly participate. There could be a repeat of the post-Soviet withdrawal chaos and victories scored by the ‘mujahideen’ will finally be meaningless.

The ‘mujahideen’ of Afghanistan and Pakistan repeat patterns and these are all ultimately self-defeating. The two countries seem to have sunk into a ‘non-governance’ mode, their governments reading the signals wrong and hurtling towards self-isolation, made senseless by anti-Americanism. President Karzai is an ally of the US-Nato forces but can hardly hide his hatred of them; the Pakistan military is an ally of the US but no longer hides its dislike of the US. Both governments are accused by the world of double-dealing and corruption and the charges stick. Both populations agree that governance has been killed by terrorism and corruption, but are brainwashed by their ideology into choosing self-isolation. Of course, this is not to say that the US has been an angel either, especially vis-a-vis its policies in this part of the world.

For instance, it has to come around to accept the fact that Pakistan is the lynchpin of any successful transition in Afghanistan. That said, many state-supported/sponsored analysts, ex-diplomats and retired generals think the US needs Pakistan more, a formulaic self-deception that makes Pakistan commit more blunders. Pakistan’s leverage is supposed to be the Taliban who strike across the Durand Line, but the same Taliban also kill innocent Pakistanis as punishment for Islamabad’s decision to be America’s ally. Neither Kabul nor Islamabad gets along with its regional neighbours without whom there can neither be peace in Afghanistan nor Pakistan. The latter’s equation with Iran can be gauged from the fact that Pakistan’s president went to Tehran on a goodwill visit last week after a Pakistani court released Malik Ishaq, allegedly the killer of an Iranian diplomat in Multan in 2003.

Afghanistan doesn’t have an economy but is being shored up by American aid — three million of its population being sustained by Pakistan, whose economy is itself hurtling towards a meltdown. But there is light at the end of the tunnel, that is, if the recent softening of Pakistan’s ghairat-based reflex towards the US, and the making of right sounds in the direction of India, are followed up in earnest. Let us not repeat the blunders of General Ziaul Haq after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Conflict in Kurram[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]July 19th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

While the Pakistan military had stated, that it hoped the operation in Kurram Agency would not be prolonged and would end within a limited period of time, it appears this is not to be the case. The fighting in the area continues relentlessly with people continuing to flee to camps or to relatives. One reason for the operation is said to be, according to some analysts, that it is needed before one can take place in North Waziristan. In any case, the situation of those still trapped in areas of fighting appears to be grim.

The sorry fact is that the unrest in Kurram has continued now for several years. For starters, the main road linking it with the rest of the country, via Thall in Hangu district, was blocked for three years by the Taliban and people of Parachinar would have to use a much longer route via Afghanistan for travel to even Peshawar. Some local tribes say that they have been targeted because of the fact that they are Shia, and in fact the Agency has unfortunately seen sectarian violence for a number of years now. Of course, for decades, both Shia and Sunni tribes continued to co-exist peacefully for years and the suggestion that the violence happened when outsiders came in does hold some water.

The current conflict seems to have been caused by the movement into the Agency of Taliban from other parts of Fata and in the process further exacerbating the situation. Many reports of abductions and kidnapping for ransom have surfaced, and there are also unconfirmed reports of the Haqqani network shifting there from North Waziristan. In this background, the kidnapping of 10 truck drivers and cleaners over the weekend, reinforces the perception that the writ of the state runs very thin in Kurram. That this is happening even as a military operation is conducted in central Kurram to flush out militants suggests that a lot more will have to be done by the state before it is able to establish its authority through the agency. A definite plan of action is now needed both to bring about peace in the troubled region and to make provisions for people who have been forced out of their homes.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Cycle of death[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]July 20th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

The Taliban have proven by their acts and misdeeds that there is not much of a difference between them and animals. What else is one to make of a video of the execution of over a dozen captured policemen in a remote part of Dir, allegedly by Taliban operatives, following fierce clashes in the area. We can only wonder what impact this is having on the minds of people everywhere, particularly the young. The latest outrage captured on film in truly graphic detail filled with gore and placed over the internet is especially shocking. It shows a death squad made up of Taliban fighters pumping bullets into policemen dressed in civilian clothes, even as they attempted to escape certain death.

We are told that the horrendous incident took place in the Upper Dir area after the Taliban attacked a check-post. The rhetoric that precedes the killing is especially shocking. A Taliban commander claims that the victims have abandoned Islam and deserve the death that is coming their way. It is hard to imagine a more brutalised society than the one we are living in, or a further drift from the ideals of a religion that advocates peace and tolerance. The Taliban have obviously succeeded in completely distorting the meaning of the religion they are so-called guardians of. Incidents such as these leave us to wonder if there can ever be a return to the normalcy that once existed across our country and the humanity that was once shared amongst people. We have come a long, long way from this.

The police officials who have identified the incident as taking place in Upper Dir have naturally expressed horror over the grotesque events we see in such vivid detail on screen. But it is also a fact that the police and the security forces have been engaged in similar killings. The Taliban executioners made a reference to this when they spoke of six ‘civilians’ being gunned down in Swat. We have initiated a cycle of death which is whirling faster and faster by the day. There seems to be no easy way to get off this deathly merry-go-round and to restore to people the respect for human life and the notion of the rule of law which is fundamental to civilised behaviour in any part of the world.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]The governor’s return[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]July 20th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

One can never be quite certain what is likely to happen in politics, especially when dealing with the MQM and its contact vis-à-vis alliance formation and attacks on those deemed its enemies. Just weeks after Sindh governor Dr Ishratul Ebad resigned from his post amidst a furious exchange of words between the MQM and PPP, there are now indications that he is headed on his way back to resume his duties as governor.

It is hard to say exactly how this turn of events came about or even if it is final in terms of the agreement reached between the two parties. It is said that the PML-Q and its leader, Chaudry Shujaat Husain, played a key role in the series of mediations which led to this. With the MQM, it is always hard to know which way the breeze is blowing. If Dr Ebad does indeed take back his resignation, this would be another change in the rapidly swirling political realities of Karachi. Some semblance of accord between the MQM and PPP would obviously be a welcome development in the context of the city and its people who fear another descent into violence as political alliances fall apart. It may not be possible to avoid this. The worst affected party in all this is the PML-N. In fact, it has been left looking rather silly, all its attempts to win over the MQM having failed. The Sharifs will not be happy. The ANP rather graciously has welcomed the return of the governor and has stressed that peace is important for Karachi. We must hope that this development can ease the way towards bringing back some of the harmony the city has lost as yet another loop forms itself on the increasingly complex political landscape of a city that has, in recent times, seen far too much violence. It will be fascinating to see how things pan out from here and what the future developments are on a Karachi scene which has changed as regularly as the images of a kaleidoscope over the last few months.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Media ethics[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]July 20th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

With every passing day, the phone hacking scandal that has brought Rupert Murdoch’s New International to its knees claims a new victim. On July 18, Rebekah Brooks, often described as the daughter Murdoch never had (even though he does have actual daughters) was arrested. Brooks was editor of the News of the World at the time it carried out most of its illegal activities and it beggars belief that she was unaware of it. The noose is now tightening around Murdoch and his son James.

The sheer scale of crimes committed by News International is breathtaking. They hacked into the phone messages of murder victims, 9/11 survivors, members of the British royal family and celebrities. Then they followed that up by bribing police officers investigating them. But what is truly worrying is how Murdoch’s tentacles are spread throughout the world. In the US, he owns The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post and Fox; in Asia he controls the Star TV network and, as the price of entry into China, agreed to mute criticism of the totalitarian government. There will now need to be a worldwide investigation to find out if the rest of his media assets were run with the same casual disregard for the law. There is also a larger lesson to be learned for governments and regulatory agencies. There will always be media entrepreneurs who treat the law as an obstacle that needs knocking down. To minimise the damage they can cause, it is essential that they not be allowed to dominate the market. Governments need to be stingier in handing out licenses to those who are already too powerful. Cross-media ownership, in particular, needs to be regulated. Rupert Murdoch has become so powerful and so feared by politicians of all ideologies that it took five years to uncover his media organisation’s corruption. As the rise of the electronic media in Pakistan has shown, not all media organisations abide by ethics. The watchdog on government abuses needs a watchdog of its own.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]A new foreign minister[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]July 21st, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Fresh air blowing through the often stagnant realm of political life is usually a rarity. It blows in only now and then and this time seems to have done so with the appointment of Hina Rabbani Khar as Pakistan’s new foreign minister. Ms Khar breaks away from the conventional image of persons entrusted to such key portfolios. In the first place, she is a woman; in the second she is young. We must hope these factors alone can bring in some fresh thinking into the running of foreign policy and how to improve Pakistan’s declining standing in the region. Ms Khar has shown over her relatively brief career as a politician that she is quite capable of going about her mission with determination and sincerity. This is what the Pakistan Foreign Office needs right now. There have been too many months of floundering, bickering and uncertainty.

Some issues, however, go beyond the questions of who is acting as minister. It is essential to the needs of Pakistan and its people that its foreign policy be an independent one, with parliament exercising control over it as should be in the case of a democracy, with the military establishment in the background. Of course, this is easier said than done, and hence the perception that the Foreign Office acts on the dictates of the establishment will be hard to change any time soon. On some issues, such as ties with India and the US, the civilians need to assert themselves and if they did it could have a positive outcome — certainly in the case of India where all political parties want greater engagement with it. Foreign policy should be based on the wishes and aspirations of the people of Pakistan as express through their elected representatives and should not be based on other extraneous factors.

This will be one of the main challenges Ms Khar faces in the future. She also takes over her assignment at a time when there is friction with the US and a degree of doubt over how things should proceed with Washington. All these matters will need to be addressed and worked out in the coming days. We believe Ms Khar has the capability and the capacity of doing this in a professional and intelligent manner. The future in terms of foreign policy may be brighter than before.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Prejudging the Abbottabad inquiry[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B][RIGHT][B]July 21st, 2011[/B][/RIGHT]

A member of the high-powered commission set to investigate the discovery and death of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, General (retd) Nadeem Ahmad, has spoken to a foreign broadcasting company and prejudged the inquiry by saying that no state institution in Pakistan was to blame for bin Laden’s secret sojourn in Abbottabad for nearly six years.

He said rather naively: “When all is said and done, the government, army and the ISI are not irresponsible people, they would never do such a stupid thing which would show them in such a bad light”. He added: “Irrespective of the US, I have absolutely not an iota of doubt on this, that no government in Pakistan, no military in Pakistan, no intelligence organisation in Pakistan would do such a stupid thing”.

The general, however, was more concerned about the use of fake polio vaccination programmes by the CIA during the hunt for bin Laden and thought it a breach of trust between the US and Pakistani governments, saying, “This is principally, morally, illegally incorrect”. It is a bit surprising that a member of a commission of inquiry should start talking about his prior bias on one side or the other among parties involved, and that the only party he chose to blame should be the US government.

We have heard quite a lot about how America — our ‘perfidious’ partner in the war against terrorism — has let us down by carrying out a covert operation on our soil without taking us into confidence. In fact, so focused are we on our resentment against the US that we have forgotten to acknowledge the death of a terrorist who has made our people suffer for over a decade. An ISPR statement hinting at this aspect of bin Laden’s death was quickly superseded by our blanket anti-Americanism.

As for the assumption on the part of General Nadeem Ahmad that the government, the military or the ISI could not have provided a safe haven to bin Laden raises a number of questions. The military is currently taking action against some of its personnel owing allegiance to banned organisations over and above their loyalty to Pakistan. There have been officers of the ISI in the past — like Khalid Khawaja — who have violated their oath of loyalty to the armed forces of Pakistan and become soldiers of fortune with no faith in anything but their own selfish ends. There have been officers of the ISI who have operated against the very government they were supposed to serve, throwing their oath of loyalty overboard. Retired ISI chiefs like Hamid Gul have been making irresponsible ‘hate’ statements, putting pressure on the army chief by creating a certain kind of ‘variant’ point of view in the military rank and file.

It is very important to see how the world looks at the ‘moral’ argument advanced by the military and government about the ‘betrayal’ of the US when it attacked Abbottabad to get bin Laden. Similarly, it is important to look at the global opinion concerning the clamour about ‘sovereignty’ that Pakistan is making to attain the moral high ground on the issue of bin Laden’s killing. Let us consider these two issues.

So punctured is the intelligence system in Pakistan that any information about the whereabouts of the terrorists and their expected targets gets leaked to the enemy. This is what happened in the latest case of an attack on the PNS Mehran base where all security measures taken by the navy were leaked to terrorists who were then able to carry out an attack, perhaps with inside help.

The question of sovereignty is real only in Pakistan. More than half the country is given over to terrorists and the rest of the ‘governed’ territory is open to raids from the terrorists ensconced in their numerous camps in Fata. The world knows that Pakistan is no longer able to impose its writ on its territory and that life and limb is not safe in cities like Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar. Most of the energy structure and communications system have come crashing down while some of us are blaming the US for being perfidious, trying to destroy us in cahoots with Israel and India.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Karachi: No electricity, no water[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B][B][RIGHT]July 22nd, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Normally a measure of support is extended to those who have had enough and take to the streets to voice their anger and frustration. That understanding cannot be extended to the KESC workers who occupied a roundabout near the Governor’s House on July 19, choking one of Karachi’s busiest streets. At the hottest time of the year, KESC’s striking workers have decided that they will let residents suffer in darkness and heat unless each and every one of their unreasonable demands are met. All workers have the right to air their grievances but to shut down the city and even resort to violence is unacceptable. The reasonable course of action to take would be to involve the government in the delicate negotiations between the management and the striking workers, which it eventually did on the night of July 20 after the KESC protesters laid siege to the utility’s head office. One hopes that a solution will be in sight to the impasse because a city of 18 million must have a power company that is able to carry out all its essential work without any hindrance.

Ironically, the KESC workers, on July 19, were matched by a different group of protestors: Citizens who have had enough of living without electricity. More sympathy needs to be extended to these protesters since they have had to bear the brunt of the workers’ strike. They, too, however, need to refrain from violence since that is unlikely to change the minds of the workers and will only plunge the city into further misery, which it did, because large chunks of it became mired in gridlock that same evening. The water shortage to some extent is linked closely with that of electricity and that means that the government needs to step in. A situation where a city the size of Karachi has a power company which in effect is saying that it is close to shutting down operations is clearly not in anyone’s interest, least of all of the people of Karachi. Workers who are being laid off cannot be allowed to cause inconvenience to the general public by their actions. The government should not tolerate the closure of roads or any damage to public or private property from such protesters.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Politicians and media[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]July 22nd, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch may have had shaving foam thrown at his face at a parliamentary inquiry in the UK, but it is the rest of us who have egg on our faces. Anyone hoping to see a contrite, humble and apologetic Murdoch would have been severely disappointed. He stated forthrightly that he is “not responsible” for the phone-hacking scandal that has disgraced his media empire, led to the arrests of his top executives and disgraced his company, News International. A man known as a micro-manager was suddenly claiming distance from virtually every action his company took.

Yet, despite being so willfully blind to the criminality rampant at News International, Murdoch now has the gall to claim he is the best man to clean the company up. Murdoch cannot have it both ways; he was either ignorant or culpable. It is time for him to own up to that and face the consequences. There are others who need to be questioned too, starting at the very top with UK Prime Minister David Cameron. The prime minister had hired Andy Coulson, editor at the News of the World during the phone-hacking period, as his spokesman even though the scandal was in its early stages then. There is reason to believe that the political establishment in the UK turned a blind eye to News International’s shenanigans. It would not be too much of a stretch to say that Murdoch had most British politicians in his pocket. Thanks to his outsized media influence, Murdoch was able to command fealty from politicians of every ideological stripe.

That may ultimately be the chief lesson of the phone-hacking saga. Politicians and media moguls should not be in bed together. The relationship between the media and politicians should be intrinsically adversarial in nature because of the former’s primary watchdog role. Murdoch changed that on its head through his power and purse. He might escape arrest and trial, but surely his influence should now plummet. That is the very least that needs to happen for some semblance of justice to be served.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]A horrible end[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]July 22nd, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

We hear of tragedies of this kind over and over again. The latest involves the death of six young men, aged between 20 and 22 years, as a result of asphyxiation after being left trapped in a small container on the Turkish border. The young men, all from Sialkot, were attempting to make their way to Greece after paying agents in Sialkot, Karachi and Quetta nearly Rs400,000 to get them into Europe. They died after being abandoned by the agents in the face of tough Turkish security. Their bodies were discovered in the air-tight container after they were dead. The horror of their last moments can only be imagined.

There have been other incidents of a similar nature before. Pakistanis have died trying to reach countries in Europe, the Middle East, the Far East and other places with agents extorting money from families in the promise of getting them there. In some cases, children as young as 14 have been discovered trying to make a ‘getaway’ across the Iranian or Afghan border in search of a better life. This trade in human beings has gone on for far too long. Some arrests have been made but the ‘big fish’ involved in the human smuggling racket remain free. Some reports have suggested they have powerful political links. It is obvious they will need to be acted against if more deaths are to be avoided.

The other question is why so many men, like the six from Sialkot who met such an awful end, wish to take all kinds of risks to escape home and the lives they lead there. We all know the answers — in large-scale unemployment, deprivation and a lack of opportunity. Families believe hope for the future lies only overseas. Policies need to be put in place to end this sense of despondency and give people the optimism they need to try and make a decent life for themselves at home rather than falling into the hands of unscrupulous agents out to mint money.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]US assistance and our flawed attitude[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B][B][RIGHT]July 23rd, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Yet another bill voted by a US Congress panel awakens the unpleasant memories of the Kerry-Lugar Bill and the ‘conditionalities’ attached to it. The Pakistan military was wrong in rejecting Kerry-Lugar, and the coming bill might make Pakistan err again. The Congress has prevented from passage an opposition bill demanding that all aid to Pakistan be cut off, but not without accepting that Pakistan must show some concrete performance as a ‘return’ on this American investment.

The vote took place in the House Foreign Affairs Committee which continues to mull the possibility of attaching more specific conditions to aid, in addition to the ones already attached to the Kerry-Lugar Act. The conditions encompass the following actions: 1) Pakistan must work with the US in investigating the existence of an official or unofficial support network in Pakistan for Osama bin Laden; 2) Pakistan must provide the US with access to bin Laden’s relatives, his Abbottabad residence and material collected from within the compound; 3) Pakistan should facilitate visas for official US visitors engaged in counterterrorism efforts and training or other cooperative programmes and projects in Pakistan; and 4) Pakistan should use defence articles and defence services provided by the United States under the Foreign Military Sales programme according to the end-use purposes, security requirements and other terms and conditions agreed to by the United States, at the time of transfer or by subsequent agreement.

There are other minor matters relating to the publicising of US assistance in the field in Pakistan which will be resolved after the issues arising from ‘branding’ of US projects are resolved. This matter is delicate and is comparable to American diplomats not carrying diplomatic number plates on their vehicles for fear of being targeted by terrorists — a point unfortunately missed by our electronic media reporting false number plates even when the real ones are displayed on the dashboards.

First of all, let us understand that the US Congress is different from the US government and that its conditionalities are a burden the Obama administration may have to bear in dealing with a legislature where the Democrats are in a minority. The conditions apply to the US government but invariably fall foul of the receiving state; only Pakistan has reacted a bit differently. When the US Congress passed the Hyde Act under former US president George W Bush to allow the government to make an agreement with India relating to nuclear exchange, the conditions attached to it, mainly concerning Iran, were ignored by the Indian Army, and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was able to cleverly prevent the Lok Sabha from voting on the ‘nuclear deal’.

Pakistan, suffering from gradual dysfunction in all its social sectors, must be more pragmatic in its approach. The ‘acts of anger’ on the part of Pakistani institutions feed into the already intense anti-Americanism whipped up by sections of Pakistan’s ‘honour-based’ media. This means that if the people reject American aid, Pakistan will have to face the consequences of being without crucial foreign assistance. Unfortunately, emotion rather than objective reflection has taken over in Pakistan. Anti-Americanism has inclined us to ignore where the danger lies and from what direction Pakistan might suffer a defeat in the coming days. We have forgotten that the death of bin Laden — and before him that of Baitullah Mehsud — has been the biggest boon for a besieged Pakistan; and that the death of alZawahiri, if it happens, could deliver a potentially fatal blow to the organisational aspects of terrorism in Pakistan. The Pakistani mind, however, has been made to dwell on the covert American attack in Abbottabad, which has forced the army to reject American assistance and unrealistically oust American trainers from the country.

If there is humiliation and defeat for Pakistan, it is in being internationally isolated. We must realise that, given the scale of the danger we face, we need assistance. Externalising an intra-state conflict with accusations of ‘interference’ is counterproductive.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]
A dog’s life[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]July 23rd, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Hussain Karim, nine years old, may never live a normal life again. His face has been badly mutilated; his nose has been torn off and his fingers badly damaged. Doctors at the Sargodha district headquarters fear he may also lose an arm. All this is not the result of an unavoidable accident, but the result of the deliberate actions of a powerful landlord who claims the child was stealing sugarcane from his fields. To stop him, six dogs were let loose on the boy, but his father says they were merely walking through the field and causing the crop no damage.

Attempts by the family of the victim to press charges have been thwarted, mainly as a result of arm-twisting and coercion by the police. Instead, the matter has been settled with the payment of around Rs21,000 to the boy’s family to cover medical expenses. This is what, it appears, a destroyed life is worth in the fiercely feudal culture which, sadly, still prevails in our society. It is driven on by the encouragement and open support of police and other officials who only see the benefits of keeping the powerful happy. Incidents of the same kind have taken place before in other locations across the country. The notion that all human life is valuable and that every citizen is equal is obviously one that has not sunk in to the mindset of our society. In addition to this, the existence of certain laws which encourage such ‘deals’ adds to the predicament of victims and their families.

Fiefdoms run by feudal overlords exist across the country within which ordinary people of the area are treated as serfs. They are subjected to repeated brutality, women are raped and we see acts as horrendous as the one in Sargodha. The authorities need to move in on the side of people. The feudal culture must be broken down, and no small child should ever again suffer the terrible trauma and pain Hussain faced simply because the powerful know they will not be held accountable, quite regardless of the acts of inhumanity they inflict on the powerless, who are able to do little to protect themselves from such outrages.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Terrorist attacks in Norway[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B][B][RIGHT]July 24th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

One greatly sympathises with the peace-loving people of Norway for the tragedy that took place on July 22 — two almost simultaneous attacks on its capital Oslo and a nearby island. Almost unbelievably, one Norwegian rightwing fanatic has shot and killed at least 80 people during a youth rally of the ruling Labour Party, while another seven were killed by a car bomb near the office of the prime minister in Oslo. Having said that, one is a bit relieved that no Muslim was involved in them. We also hope that this gratitude is not expressed too soon.

TV commentators in the West had to stop speculating about yet another adventure by al Qaeda because of the quick declaration by the Norwegian police that the man killing the youths on the island had been arrested, that he was a native Norwegian and that he had possible links with the righting extremists in the country. Norway has a very negligible element left over from the neo-Nazi group that showed muscle in the country some years ago. One cause for concern is that if the act of terrorism was the work of a deranged individual, similar to ultra-right American Timothy McVeigh, then who was behind the car bomb attack that has wrecked a whole sector of the capital city?

We hope that in the coming days, new facts are not revealed about possible connections to al Qaeda, which would mean increased focus on Pakistan. Norway has a Muslim community with a strong contribution from Pakistan, mainly from Gujrat, which the Norwegian ambassador in Pakistan has often praised as a most useful contributor to the richness of Norwegian culture.

Before the Norwegian police came out with facts, some western commentators felt that it could be the much feared ‘next attack’ on Europe, a continent that has been spared al Qaeda’s wrath now for some time. The reasons given were many: That Norway was a Nato member with troops stationed in Afghanistan and some involvement in the siege imposed on Libya; that some of the blasphemous Danish cartoons may have been reprinted in Norwegian newspapers as a part of the ‘freedom of speech’ debate; and that Norway should be made to get out of Afghanistan just as Spain was made to get out of Iraq after a bombing of trains in Madrid. Attempts by the media to link the killings to the country’s substantial Pakistani presence were proven wrong and underline the dangers of racial/ethnic profiling when dealing with cases of terror.

The car bomb did look suspiciously like an al Qaeda attack but it is more likely that the killer followed in the footsteps of McVeigh and placed the explosives-laden car in the city square before going to the youth rally with his arsenal of guns. The ‘lone wolf’ theory is more tenable because Scandinavia has been more or less free of terrorist attention, apart from Denmark, which was unsuccessfully targeted by al Qaeda from Pakistan and for which Pakistani American David Headley is under trial in the US after having made some confessions extremely embarrassing to the government in Islamabad.

Norway could very well call the attack its 9/11 because the last time it witnessed carnage of such a scale was during the Second World War. It has been more peaceful than Sweden, where a Turk tried unsuccesfully to explode a bomb in Stockholm in December 2010. In the scale of loss of life, Oslo has suffered less than Madrid (191 killed) did in 2004, but more than London (52 killed) did in 2005.

It has been only three months since Osama bin Laden’s death in Abbottabad and everyone in the world is looking to Pakistan to tackle the contagion of terrorism spreading to the rest of the world. With more than 35,000 lost to al Qaeda and its local affiliates, Pakistan deserves sympathy and help for which it must prove itself worthy by fighting its own war against terrorism.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Violence in Karachi — again[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B][B][RIGHT]July 24th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

The last thing Karachi needs is an addition to the different kinds of violence that run through it and encircle it in a permanent ring of black. Last week, some 100 people died in four days of frenzy on the roads. We now see the violence take a different turn, as the old wars between rival political factions resurfaced, claiming (at the time of the writing of this editorial) the lives of 19 people. One large section of the city, akin to one of its five districts, had fallen victim to close to two days of violence in which gunmen from the rival groups fought what seems to have been a pitched battle with each other. Unfortunately, as this happened, the police, the Rangers (whose powers to police the city were extended only recently by another three months) stood by and did nothing. Karachi has seen precisely such violence before; it certainly does not need more of it, or the appearance at street corners of more bodies wrapped in gunny bags. There is no way of saying what direction the violence will take. In the past, factional violence between rival groups created havoc in the city. Residents recoil as they recall those days, in particular the mid-1990s. Anxious to prevent a worsening of the situation, the president has immediately discussed the situation with Home Minister Manzoor Wasan and opted for further security measures. It is hard to say if these will work. There are some ominous signs already. The MQM has blamed Sindh Senior Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza for stirring up trouble by meeting the chief of the MQM-Haqiqi, who is in prison. The latter party for its part has said that its activists are being hunted down and its offices targeted.

This is basically the worst set of developments that could have unfolded in Karachi. The tenuous peace that had descended for a few days has blown away. It is hard to imagine security forces being able to manage the situation. They have, after all, failed repeatedly in the past to bring any kind of order to the city. Indeed, the tensions that run through it seem to be assuming more and more complex dimensions, with some reports also speaking of ANP activists becoming involved in the battles. Bringing peace to Karachi is obviously essential, but the question is how this is to be achieved before violence destroys the city.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Children and death[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]July 25th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

One does not usually associate the very young with death, but this pattern seems to have become the norm in our country, where teenagers take their own life in multiple suicide attacks, and also that of dozens others killed by them. Police in Rawalpindi say they have averted just such a tragedy for arresting 14-year-old Shahrukh, who they say had planned to carry out an attack at a sensitive location. Further details of his mission are unknown, but it is believed the teenager was trained South Waziristan, quite remarkable over only a seven-day period.

A security alert has been declared in the twin cities. We hope this will prevent any act of terrorism. But the real problems run much deeper. Boys like Sharukh, equipped with suicide jackets and pistols, are as much victims as those they intend to kill. They need to be rescued from the extremists who lure them into their trap often by projecting an elaborate description of life after death once they become ‘martyrs’. For young men who have few opportunities in life, this is obviously tempting. In trying to combat the problem, it doesn’t help that we have no idea how many boys continue to be recruited.

The purpose of the police, as they interrogate young Shahrukh, should be to determine where training camps exist in tribal agencies. The real purpose of security forces must be to detect these and rescue any minors kept there. An effort in this regard has already been made in Swat. It needs to be extended to cover the entire conflict zone. This is the only way we will be able to remove the means the terrorist use to kill and also to rescue those caught up in a ruthless war that has claimed far too many victims. Other suicide bombers have also been held before. It is far from certain if this has had any lasting impact in defeating militancy. We must hope this time round greater effort is made to reach those who send children out to kill and use them as tools in the dangerous game they are engaged in.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Fudging tax figures[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]July 25th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Just days after the federal budget for the next fiscal year was announced, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Salman Siddiqui proudly stated that he would not let wealthy tax dodgers escape the tax net again. The budget was partly predicated on increased revenue so it is essential that Siddiqui keeps his promise. The early signs are not good. It is has now been revealed that the FBR chairman’s boast that they had managed to meet their revised tax collection target of Rs1,588 billion was just empty rhetoric. In fact, the figure was off by Rs38 billion, a not inconsiderable sum which according to a report in this newspaper, now puts our budget deficit at 6.5 per cent of gross domestic product.

There are real world consequences to the FBR’s apparent mendacity. One of the IMF’s main conditions for continuing to bail out Pakistan’s economy is that it raise revenue and cut expenditure. Now that our budget deficit is well beyond what the IMF demanded, there is a chance that they will withhold the next few tranches of money. Since the FBR has now proved itself incapable of meeting its targets, the budget deficit will have to be lowered by eliminating subsidies. Removing subsidies on gas and electricity, as the IMF would like us to do, will hurt common citizens, who are essentially going to have to bear the pain that was meant for rich tax-dodgers.

Beyond that, there need to be consequences and accountability for the FBR. Too many government agencies set unrealistic targets and then just shrug when these, as is likely to be the case, aren’t met. One should not forget that in the past, albeit under a different government, Pakistan was even fined by a multilateral agency for presenting what turned out to be concocted macroeconomic figures. In this case, the obvious person who should be held accountable for this tax fudging (what else is one to call it?) is the FBR chairman. But let us be realistic. In Pakistan, accountability never begins at the top and so the FBR chief can rest easy in his chair. If there are any firings over this, it will be at a lower level where scapegoats will wash away the sins of their superiors. At least we now know one thing. Every time Siddiqui claims that the culture at FBR has been changed, corruption has been ended and tax-evaders are being targeted, we will know to take his words with a very large pinch of salt.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Up in arms[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]July 25th, 2011
[/RIGHT][/B]
The lawyers of Karachi recently reacted with rather unexpected violence to the operation of NGOs offering free legal aid to people who have been set up around the district courts of Karachi as well as prisons. The Karachi Bar Association had for some time been demanding that these offices be shut down, primarily, it seems because the legal community believes their existence is eating into the money younger lawyers could earn. More rational and more humanitarian opinion holds that this is hardly a valid complaint and that the NGOs offer invaluable service to those too poor to pay the fees of lawyers. This is vital need in a city where many end up behind bars on charges on involvement in even the pettiest crimes and have no funds to go about the process of securing their release.

While the case regarding the existence of these NGOs has been pending before the Sindh High Court for some months, what is unforgivable is the manner in which the lawyers chose to drive home their message. After a meeting at the court premises, the office of an NGO, run by a women, was attacked and vandalised. This is no way for a professional group to act. We have seen similar behavior from lawyers previously, notably in Lahore. It does nothing to bring credit to them.

The lawyers, backed by other bar associations in the Karachi area, have also decided on a boycott of the courts until the matter is sorted out. This can only add to the plight of litigants who already face long delays in the hearing of cases and are often forced to wait for hours at courts in the hope that the hearing of their petitions will come up. It is true that every group in society has financial needs. But the manner in which lawyers have chosen to try and extort money by using their collective power reflects poorly on them.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Pakistan-India ties and good sense[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B][B][RIGHT]July 26th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

It came as no surprise that Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar began her career in her new post by establishing her credentials through a defiant statement in Lahore: “Pakistan is a sovereign state that wants friendly relations with all neighbouring countries, including India, but will not accept the hegemony of any country in the region”. She added in apparent hyperbole: “Pakistan’s role in the region is by no means inferior to India”. More symbolically, she said this after her return from the ASEAN regional forum, a platform where trading nations are seeking a new non-conflictual order of interstate relations. Khar was clearly responding to her American counterpart US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s remark in New Delhi earlier where Clinton had asked India to play the role of a leader in Asia. Pakistan’s relations with the US are now on a slippery slope and will nosedive if more diplomacy minus unrealistic defiance is not used. She said: “Outstanding issues with India cannot be settled overnight, the Kashmir issue is on the preferential agenda of Pakistan, which desires durable peace in the region”. The punchline was then delivered: “The international community must extend cooperation to Pakistan in recognition of the country’s role as a frontline ally in combating terror”. Does she know what the international community actually thinks of Pakistan?

What she may have meant was that China will stand behind Pakistan in its new isolationist posture: “China is a time-tested friend of Pakistan and Pakistan is proud of this friendship… Pakistan and the US do have a difference of opinion on certain operational matters, but we hope that the differences can be resolved amicably… Whatever the role of a country in the region, Pakistan’s importance cannot be diminished and the US acknowledges this fact”. It is just that the US is more diplomatic and Pakistan more unbuttoned.

The US, however, speaks through its acts and the last act that has upset Pakistani authorities is the way a champion of the Kashmir cause from Indian Kashmir, Ghulam Nabi Fai, has been treated in Washington.

The issue of US assistance to Pakistan is also facing increasing problems, with regard to allegations on how the aid is spent — made worse by ‘leaks’ in the American press accusing Islamabad of diverting it for other uses. On the other hand, Pakistan keeps hounding accredited American diplomats in Pakistan for not displaying diplomatic number plates on their official vehicles, knowing full well that such display will expose them to target killers over whom Pakistan has no control. More reaction could follow when ‘Kashmir centres’ in Europe too are ‘examined’ by governments. Already some European newspapers have carried reports on their sources of funding. The remark about Indian hegemony was perhaps uncalled for after a very good beginning earlier in the month, with Pakistan’s commerce minister showing interest in expanding bilateral trade and even conceding that Pakistan should accord India the ‘most-favoured nation’ status in reciprocity. By using the ‘h’ word Pakistan, runs the risk of falling in with the plans of some in the US who want to set up India as a rival power to China in the region. So far, neither China nor India is willing to bite the bait.

But Pakistan is ‘path dependent’ when it comes to relations with India. Its history is dominated by the strategy of using ‘oceanic’ linkages to avoid ‘continental’ pressures. For most of the 20th century, it was America; now it seems to be China. What reflected well on the maturity of thinking in Pakistan was Islamabad’s ability to be friends with both the US and China; indeed it was Pakistan that brought the two major powers of the world together in the 1970s. Today, good relations are needed with the two superpowers plus the regional power, India. That is what the world wants and that is where lies the key to nuclear Pakistan’s national security. Ms Khar is to visit India in the coming week. We hope that the trade-related confidence-building measures being contemplated will be put in place without delay and that India — which has given a good account of its intent by not blaming the latest terrorist attacks in Mumbai on Pakistan — will act jointly with Pakistan to resolve the problem of cross-border terrorism too.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Cut from the same cloth[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]July 26th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Whenever a terrorist attack takes place, Muslims around the world are doubly apprehensive. Not only is there the usual anger that innocent lives have been senselessly taken, it is compounded by fear that those responsible for the attack are also Muslim. In Pakistan, the fear is further ratcheted up by the fact that there is a very strong possibility that the terrorists are either Pakistani citizens, of Pakistani origin or received training here. That the twin attacks in Oslo were carried out by a far-right, Islamophobic Norwegian has led to sighs of relief, and even some gloating, among Muslims. Most international news organisations were quick to speculate that al Qaeda or another Islamic militant group was responsible for the attacks. As glad as some of us might have been to see them proven wrong, the correct response would be to express sorrow, not glee.

The world has discussed ad nauseum just how much of a threat radicalised Muslims pose to the ‘West’, maybe now we can also start a debate on the opposite phenomena: Extreme right-wingers who are willing to resort to violence out of hatred for Muslims. In the years after 9/11, there has been a marked increase in hate crimes against Muslims across the West. Particularly in Europe, far-right political parties have made electoral gains campigning for a ban on immigration. Anti-Muslim rhetoric by parties like the British National Party has been extreme and it was only a matter of time before their sympathisers decided to use bombs rather than words to express their anger. Islamic militants and far-right xenophobes are cut from the same cloth. Both have a penchant for violence, are extremely insular and want to impose their beliefs on those unwilling to adopt them. So long as they restrict themselves to proselytising, a free society must accommodate them. But when they start carrying out attacks like the ones in Oslo, it is time to take action. After 9/11, US President George W Bush took a “for us or against us” stance, while the Norwegian prime minister has said that terrorists can be defeated with “more democracy” and “more freedom”. In a battle of world views, the latter approach is always preferable.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Talks in New Delhi[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]July 27th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Talks between Pakistan and India in July have become a regular feature — and for some that is perhaps an end in itself. Last time, the venue was Thimphu and the year before that Sharm-el-Sheikh. Both meetings were held amid mutual suspicion and acrimony. In the latter, the Indian prime minister made some very encouraging remarks but it seems that his resolve was undercut by vested interests in the Indian establishment who did not want to see ties between the two countries return to any semblance of normality after the 26/11. The foreign ministers of both countries are scheduled to meet in New Delhi today, with the hawks on both sides yet again wishing that they come to naught. It has been reported that some confidence-building measures related to Kashmir (such as increasing the number of trading days, opening more bus routes and allowing more entry points through the Line of Control) may come out of the meeting, but it remains to be seen whether other pressing matters of conflict will be addressed in any realistic manner.

As with the previous July meetings, the New Delhi summit will be heavily focused on 26/11. Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna has already made it clear that he will demand that Pakistan bring the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks to justice. This is a clear reference to Hafiz Saeed and several members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba who are being tried in a Pakistani court (though the case seems to have dragged on inordinately long). An additional concern for Pakistan will be the performance of newly-minted Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar. There is concern that her lack of experience makes her unsuitable for the job and this wasn’t helped by an undiplomatic remark on India she made soon upon assuming office. That said, the talks do present an opportunity for those on either side who wish for peace between the two countries to assert themselves. In Pakistan, all political parties are agreed on the need for a lasting peace with India, while across the border perhaps the biggest proponent of harmonious coexistence with Pakistan seems to be none other than Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Unnecessary confrontation[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B][RIGHT]July 27th, 2011[/RIGHT]

The face-off between the government and the Supreme Court over the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scam seems to be growing more and more tense. There is now not even an attempt to hide the open hostility that has come forward. The court, with the bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, has made it quite clear it is furious over the refusal of key FIA officials to appear before it despite repeated summons and has threatened to have DG FIA Tahseen Hassan Shah arrested and forced to appear before it if he does not do so voluntarily. Annoyance has also been expressed about similar behaviour from other FIA officials and the answers provided by the government which the court has deemed unsatisfactory. The main issue, of course, concerns the return of Zafar Ahmed Qureshi, the man whom the court believes holds the key to settling the case fairly, and in a manner that can ensure justice is done. What is also worth thinking about is how far the judiciary should be able to intervene in its administrative matters. This has been raised by legal experts at various points.

However, there is no denying that the government appears to be involved in an effort to avoid the truth from emerging. This is a dangerous exercise. Many will favour the court in its determination to discover what truly happened to the money whisked away from the NICL accounts. It is important that this happen. Every institution of the state should be playing its part in working towards this, rather than engaging in potentially dangerous tussles which could complicate the running of national affairs and also add to the widely held notion that corruption is protected by the elite and cronyism is something they are completely unwilling to give up. The NICL case is a prime example of this. The kind of animosity we have been seeing in the court room has been going on for far too long. It needs to be settled before any lasting damage is inflicted and the petty antics we have seen during the hearings brought to an end so that matters can proceed in a suitably dignified fashion.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Looking at Sudan[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]July 27th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Pakistan has become the 88th country in the world to recognise southern Sudan as an independent state. The country is now the 193rd member of the UN. The emergence of the new nation puts an end to the 50-year conflict between rebels in the south of the country and an oppressive government in Khartoum which had been battling them with extreme force. The same policy of suppression was followed by one government after the other. This perhaps is one reason why the overwhelming majority of people in southern Sudan, 99 per cent in fact, voted for independence when a referendum was held under tough international pressure in January this year.

As Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani announces his recognition of the new country, one wonders if he has given any thought to what this means for Pakistan. We are of course no strangers to internal conflict. Even now, one rages on in Balochistan. In the past, we have seen the outcome of similar neglect of the opinions of people in Bangladesh. There is a message in all this for us to consider. When people are ignored, and no effort made to grant them the rights they demand, there are bound to be problems. In southern Sudan, one of these hinged around the use of the region’s rich resources to benefit other parts of the country. These were not shared with the impoverished south. Again, this is a situation not unfamiliar to us.

A new country has appeared on the world map. For the people of South Sudan, this is very good news. It is also good news for the rest of the world which sees an end to a conflict that had appeared to continue year after year and decade after decade. It is important, however, that the factors that lead to cessation be carefully considered. It is always sad when people are unable to live together or settle differences peacefully. Ways must be found to avoid this as far as possible everywhere, including in Pakistan, which has struggled to hold its diverse population together for decades.