A death that will haunt Pakistan

May 2nd, 2012

A year ago on May 2, American special forces attacked the safe haven of al Qaeda’s top leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, killed him and took his body away. His death triggered reactions in Pakistan that were least expected: instead of being relieved that a man whose organisation had killed thousands of innocent Pakistanis was finally eliminated, it fell into a paroxysm of rage over the American commando operation. The country’s military establishment and, indeed many Pakistanis, felt that they had been betrayed by what they saw as a brazen assault on the country’s sovereignty. Our relations with the ally were already soured by the capture of the CIA contractor Raymond Davis in Lahore, who had killed two Pakistanis.

In fact, two ruptures took place after the attack on Osama bin Laden. Pakistan set itself on the course of ‘disengagement’ with the US; and the Pakistan Army became alienated from the incumbent PPP-led government. Then in November came the Salala incident, where American gunships killed Pakistani troops at a border check post. This caused a halt to Nato supplies through Pakistan at a crucial time in the American engagement in Afghanistan. Following this, the government in Islamabad faced the charge of treason at the Supreme Court for having conspired — through its ambassador in the US — against the Pakistan Army.

Lack of trust became the reason why the operation to ‘get Osama’ was kept secret. The Americans said that every time they shared information with the Pakistani establishment about the impending operations against the terrorists, the latter were forewarned. They felt that Pakistan wanted operations only against those elements that were killing Pakistanis in Pakistan and not against those who were attacking American and Nato targets in Afghanistan. Journalist Saleem Shahzad was mysteriously killed in Pakistan when he reported that the al Qaeda had penetrated the personnel of the Pakistan Navy. This was exacerbated by the widespread feeling in Pakistan that the war on terror, started by a now-discredited former army chief General Pervez Musharraf, was “not Pakistan’s war”.

Pakistan, too, had to answer some questions about the presence of bin Laden in Abbottabad. A judicial commission was set up which is still inquiring into his death at the time of writing. While living in Pakistan, Bin Laden was visited by his lieutenants and devotees, including his wife. The Americans say they found evidence that bin Laden communicated with Mullah Mohammad Omar, leader of the Afghan Taliban and with Lashkar-e-Taiba. International opinion is, by and large, of the view that the safe haven must have been organised on some level by elements inside the Pakistani establishment, but the US has consistently said that there is “smoking gun” to suggest that his presence was facilitated at any official level.

The facts that are known tell us that the al Qaeda is located at the top of the terror pyramid in Pakistan and the Taliban owe allegiance to it. Furthermore, elements whose presence in North Waziristan Pakistan doesn’t necessarily mind are also, unfortunately, linked to al Qaeda. The Punjabi Taliban and the non-state actors traditionally known to act abroad in favour of the state are busy distributing subversive literature produced by Ayman al-Zawahiri, the current leader of al Qaeda. After having concluded that the al Qaeda has been more or less eliminated in Pakistan, the Americans are now telling us that it is still strong after succeeding in Iraq, Yemen, Somalia and even Nigeria.

On the face of it, Pakistan has other more urgent crises to overcome. There is the corruption of the executive linked to power shortage and malfunction of state institutions and politicians who are busy destabilising the country by fighting dangerous agitational battles against one another. But the real crisis which the world sees, but most Pakistanis don’t, is terrorism and the dwindling writ of the state in the face of it. Behind this erosion of internal sovereignty stands the towering figure of a dead Osama bin Laden threatening the very foundations of the state.

Not without a hint of irony

May 2nd, 2012

Only in Pakistan would a speech by the army chief, reiterating his commitment to democracy and asking all institutions to abide by their constitutional boundaries, be seen as major news. That said, most lay observers would welcome what General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said at the GHQ on Martyrs Day, especially his comments that indicated that the military would not interfere in the democratic process by taking sides following the prime minister’s conviction for contempt of court. General Kayani referred to constitutional limits placed on all institutions of state and suggested that these be respected — the implication further being that the military intended to abide by its constitutional role, at least this time. The military’s proper role at this time should be to stay above the fray and allow the political process to play itself out, no matter how messy it may get — since that is how things should work in a democracy.

As reassuring as the army chief’s speech may have been, one can argue that it has more than its fair share of irony. The reason for that is simple and undeniable: for much of the country’s existence, it has been ruled by the military, which seized power by overthrowing elected civilian governments. Even in the case of the current PPP-led government, its predicament was made worse by the whole memogate affair, which perhaps would not have ballooned out of proportion as it eventually will, had Pakistan been a normally functioning democracy with the military playing its proper constitutionally-mandated role. It is worth reminding readers that both Generals Ziaul Haq and Pervez Musharraf never stopped singing praises of democracy and vowing that they will restore it. We all know what transpired out of these words and how the nation suffered from years of debilitating military rule.

Furthermore, since one is on this most important of subjects, i.e., civil-military relations in Pakistan’s fragmented and complex polity, perhaps it would not be out of place to suggest that if the military has now realised the virtues of the Constitution and the boundaries it sets on all institutions, then all policy matters, including foreign and security policy should be in the hands of the elected government of the day.

Preparing for the floods

May 3rd, 2012

It is worrisome that as the monsoon season draws near, the government appears just as ill-prepared to handle the impact of torrential rains as it has been for the past two years. Are the lessons of the devastating floods of 2010 and 2011 lost on us? The past two years have clearly shown that unless one is prepared to help oneself, the international community will not be willing to lend a helping hand — or send aid money. The 2011 floods, which affected more than 8.8 million people and killed nearly 400, constituted a major humanitarian disaster, yet sympathy for the sufferers was hard to come by with the appeal for $365 million for humanitarian assistance met by a sluggish, stingy response from the international community.

There were several reasons for this, none of which have been addressed. Firstly, the Pakistani government had failed to invest in adequate preventive measures, especially in light of the fact that the country had suffered from a similar situation just a year before. Secondly, the widespread perception was that relief funds were misused because of pervasive corruption, mismanagement and a lack of coordination among the different relief agencies. Hence, the reluctance to donate. The government — and in particular, the National Disaster Management Commission — still has time to prepare for the eventuality of torrential rains this year but whether it actually does something remains to be seen. Unfortunately, according to some reports, nearly 30 per cent of the flood-hit area in Sindh is still inundated from last year’s rains and such is the lack of foresight, that the government again plans to use schools as relief camps despite the fact that it disrupts studies.

Of course, no amount of planning can stop a natural calamity from happening. But the relevant authorities can at least make sure that when the worst happens, they have all the instruments in place to minimise human suffering. Strengthening embankments, diverting water flow and raising awareness among the rural population should be the rudimentary measures. Beyond that, the government needs to identify the most vulnerable areas and discourage settlements there and employ better water management techniques.

Rupert Murdoch under trial

May 3rd, 2012

Rupert Murdoch, the chief of News Corp, has made governments quiver for much of his lifetime. Now it is time for the politicians to strike back. The phone-hacking that claimed Murdoch’s beloved tabloid News of the World shows no signs of losing steam. A British parliamentary committee has now claimed that Murdoch is unfit to head News Corp and that some of its executives could face contempt of parliament charges for knowingly providing false testimony. The implications of this parliamentary report are vast. Murdoch had been trying to get a majority stake in the BSkyB satellite network; that may now be nixed. The British media regulator, Ofcom, could even force Murdoch to step down.

One of the few silver linings to come out of the hacking scandal is that it may reduce the power of the Murdoch family. Rupert’s son James is likely to be charged with lying to parliament and News Corp’s survival may depend on sidelining the Murdochs. This would likely signal the end of a decades-long reign where Murdoch used his power to browbeat politicians into doing his bidding. The Murdoch era also highlights the dangers of cross-ownership of media. Murdoch was able to leverage his holdings into considerable political clout. That allowed him to increase his power and use his platform to advocate for policies that appealed to his business interests and ideology.

Over the course of the hacking scandal, we have learned that Murdoch is someone who has no regard for the truth and never lets the law come in the way of a good story. Some would consider it poetic justice if he now steps aside. The scandal should also come as a wake-up call to the sensationalist tabloid media. Gone are the days when unscrupulous newspapers could illegally spy on people. There are lessons the local media could learn from this too. In our desire to be the first to break a story, our electronic media has often crossed the bounds of decency. They, too, should be careful lest they meet Murdoch’s fate.

Loss of a leopard

May 3rd, 2012

Villagers in Battal, lying on the outskirts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s (AJK) capital Muzaffarabad, ruthlessly killed a leopard cub that had invaded their settlement in search of food. According to news reports from the area, the animal was first driven into an abandoned home and once trapped there, it was tied up using blankets and ropes. The cub was then reportedly dragged into the open by its tail as a result of which it died owing to the multiple injuries and trauma it suffered. AJK Wildlife Department officials arrived, but were too late to save the animal, which is on the protected list under the AJK Wildlife Act. This incident brings the number of leopards killed in various parts of AJK to over a dozen in the past six months. Incidents such as the killing of leopards and other animals have surfaced repeatedly in AJK since 2006. The law permits the killing of leopards in self-defence or to save livestock, but not the kind of crazed brutality that was on displayed this time. The animal could easily have been saved. AJK Wildlife officials say that growth in the human population and the consequent destruction of natural habitats resulting in loss of food, is driving leopards and other animals towards settlements. That said, local communities need to be educated on the need to protect animals.

This is easier said than done, since the villagers of AJK and the neighbouring Galiyat area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, consider the leopard to be very dangerous. What we need beyond raising awareness is more effective policies to protect forest areas and prevent timber mafias from operating as they do in AJK so that the animals are not bereft of their natural habitats. We need to show greater care and concern for animals in general, and especially those species which are near extinction. Moreover, such acts only deteriorate the image of Pakistan in the international community and instead further reinforce that we have little regard for life, be it human or animal.

__________________
Kon Kehta hy k Main Gum-naam ho jaon ga
Main tu aik Baab hn Tareekh mein Likha jaon ga

Threats to the media

May 4th, 2012

For the Pakistani media, the World Press Freedom Day, which fell on May 3, should have been an occasion for reflection, not self-congratulation. Despite all the strides the media has made in the last decade, from the mushrooming of private electronic media channels to new ventures in print, the challenges remain daunting. Primary among these is the safety of reporters. Pakistan has often been termed the most dangerous country in the world for journalists and with good cause. From the militants on one side to the intelligence spooks on the other, journalists in the country know that they will not be spared scrutiny under any circumstance and that the punishment for stories that displease the powers-that-be is often death. It is a sad fact in our country, the more seasoned a journalist is, the higher the risk to their life.

Nearly a year after his tortured body was found, we still do not know who killed Saleem Shahzad. There was so much international outcry at the possibility that he may have been targeted by the intelligence agencies that a high-powered commission was set up to investigate his murder. The commission was unable to pinpoint the culprits but did seem to be in undue haste to absolve the agencies. Similarly, the murderers of journalist Wali Babar have been equally elusive. Part of the reason is that no matter how vibrant the press in Pakistan claims to be, it is not truly free. When reporters cross an imaginary line drawn by powerful interests, they end up paying the ultimate price and everyone else is thwarted in the quest for justice.

As deadly as official power to operate freely can be for journalists, the media in Pakistan faces other outside pressures as well. The decision to report on stories or, in many cases, not to report on them, is often dictated by advertisers. This is why, for example, the media rarely, if ever, acts as a watchdog on corporate power. Commercial interests usually trump the traditional adversarial role of the media. Be it fear of death or fear of declining revenue, anything that forces the press to censor itself should be considered a roadblock to media freedom. On this year’s World Press Freedom Day, it is these outside pressures that need to be recognised and overcome.

Another CNG tragedy

May 4th, 2012

The explosion of a CNG cylinder in a school bus in Shiekhupura that killed five teachers and a student says a lot about the lack of government regulation that is responsible for thousands of avoidable deaths. A report released by the Civil Society Front last month revealed that 2,000 people died in gas cylinder explosions in 2011. This is partly due to the fact that cylinders are often of substandard quality and installed in vehicles by untrained workers in unlicensed shops. This is where the government needs to step in. Spot checks need to be conducted to ensure that shops have licensing and that their workers are properly trained. These checks also need to be extended to vehicles, particularly those in public transport. The government should also consider passing a law mandating that only government institutes can install CNG cylinders.

Those public transport vehicles that are using low-quality cylinders or have not had them installed properly should have their routes cancelled. The traffic police would also have to participate in spot check to ensure that vehicles on the road are not a public safety threat. If such measures are not implemented immediately, we can expect many more incidents like the one in Sheikhupura, as well as a definite increase in the number of fatalities in cylinder explosions. A CNG safety campaign also needs to be launched to educate people about the dangers of taking shortcuts. Saving a small sum of money in the short term by installing low-quality gas cylinders is not worth the risk to life and limb.

As for the Sheikupura incident, the authorities owe it to those who lost loved ones to immediately investigate the explosion. This would mean determining if the cylinder was faulty and then finding out where it was installed. The shop that installed it should have its license revoked and be shut down. Its owners should be put on trial for gross negligence. The government needs to get serious about this vital public safety issue. How many more tragedies will have to occur before it takes meaningful action?

Gunfire in Cairo

May 4th, 2012

The vague fears that have lingered over Egypt’s cities since the dramatic fall of its autocratic ruler, Hosni Mubarak, in February 2011, after 30 years in power, may be materialising into something more substantial. In the first major incident of pre-election violence, 11 people were killed when gunmen opened fire on protesters who had gathered outside the Ministry of Defence. It is widely believed that the attack was staged by supporters of the military set up, which has held power ever since the revolution that brought the end to Mubarak’s regime. The protesters, who had assembled at the ministry were supporters of the disqualified presidential candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, who was struck out of the electoral race, just three weeks before the elections, on the basis that his mother held dual Egyptian and US nationality.

The violence has triggered uproar, with a number of parties, including the powerful Muslim Brotherhood announcing a suspension of its campaign. Several leaders have openly blamed the military for the attack, with rumours raging that the key purpose behind it was the military’s desire to cling on to power. However, army chief General Sami Anan has been quoted in the Egyptian media as saying that the military will step down if the first round of the election on May 23 and 24 produces an outright winner.

The shooting and the severe apprehension that it has produced, has only added to the air of tension that was already prevailing. The first presidential debate, which was to feature front runners of the contest, has already been cancelled. As political groups express anger over the killings, there is also the danger of further protests breaking out. Egypt’s transition to democracy is clearly not going to be easy — and as many have predicted, it does not seem that it will become any smoother in the coming days. We can only hope that there will be no further bloodshed, given that what Egypt needs most is a calm transition to elected rule.

__________________
Kon Kehta hy k Main Gum-naam ho jaon ga
Main tu aik Baab hn Tareekh mein Likha jaon ga

The Seraiki province as a political manoeuvre

May 5th, 2012

The National Assembly has tried to kill two PPP birds with one stone: it passed on May 3, two resolutions — one reposing confidence in Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani who the opposition thinks is no longer prime minister after being convicted by the Supreme Court; and the second supporting a call for the creation of a new Seraiki province in the south of Punjab. Later, the Senate also unanimously passed the resolution of “firm confidence” in Mr Gilani, with the PML-N absent from the upper house. Reportedly, all the rump opposition, in contrast to the PML-N, voted for the two resolutions in the National Assembly.

Leader of the Opposition, the PML-N’s Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, led his party’s placard — carrying MNAs in protest against what he thought was a procedural malpractice by the speaker, but the resolutions were passed nonetheless because the PPP’s allies held firm. The MQM, in fact, celebrated the resolution on the Seraiki province in Karachi because in principle more provinces would brighten its chances of spreading out from the city and becoming a national party. As for the ANP, it had to sew up a more complex bargain on the basis of an unspoken pledge to not support the Hazara province movement. When all is said and done, however, no province can be formed unless the Constitution is amended and the provincial assemblies have also voted with a two-thirds majority.

It is to embarrass the PPP’s allies, perhaps, that the PML-N too submitted a resolution for the formation of four new provinces: Bahawalpur, Fata, South Punjab and Hazara. In the long run, even this counter-manoeuvre may be good for Pakistan’s governance because of the devolution of federal powers it implies. After all, British India had 16 provinces, and today India has 28!

Finally, was it a mere political manoeuvre? And the answer to that would have to be an unequivocal ‘yes’, but many significant developments in the history of states take place as political ploys. The creation of a Seraiki province has been a high priority for the people of the southern region of Punjab and the PPP has exploited that to water down the PML-N’s dominance. It can also be seen as a counter to what the PPP probably perceives as a threat in the shape of the PML-N policy of leaning on the Sipah-i-Sahaba in the region. This began in March 2011 when Mr Gilani stated that “the formation of a Seraiki province would be part of the PPP manifesto for the next elections”.

Not so long ago, in July 2009, when the PML-Q was still seen as the “qatil” League, the PPP’s central information secretary Fauzia Wahab had warned that “disciplinary action” will be taken against party legislators favouring a “division” of Punjab and had pointed to some southern Punjab “current and former leaders of the PML-Q”, who had gone to the Punjab Assembly and the media to talk about “a separate Seraiki province”. She also said that “the Seraiki province had never been brought up by the PPP leadership in its discussions”.

But the PPP has struck the right chord. The PML-Q is no longer a threat thanks to the PML-N’s resistance to “reconciliation” and the Seraiki region comprising the three divisions of Bahawalpur, Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan, seems to be responding to Mr Gilani’s promise of good times, a glimpse of which they have already seen in the projects started by him in Multan. The principle of devolution is an accepted wisdom tested by the practice of states in Western Europe.

Why should the political elite of Multan live in Lahore? The answer is: because the provincial assembly and the provincial bureaucracy are located here. People living in the south see that the budget arrives in Lahore and is mostly spent in Lahore and the surrounding divisions. They see the meagre proportion of the budget spent in the south and are unhappy about it. The Constitution has been recently amended to give the provinces more powers that were earlier reserved for the Centre. Perhaps, the time has come to amend the Constitution again to enable the elected representatives to create more provinces on sound administrative principles.

Osama bin Laden’s letters

May 5th, 2012

Every person has a sell-by date, after which their value is greatly diminished, often to the point of uselessness. It seems that the late al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, it seems, reached this soon after the 9/11 attacks. A trove of documents released by the US government on the first anniversary of the raid that killed bin Laden showed a man who was increasingly out of touch with the organisation he nominally headed. Following the attacks, the feared terrorist had been reduced to little more than a media adviser, giving tips that were mostly ignored by his supposed underlings. Among the bits of advice that he passed on to al Qaeda commanders was a suggestion that the group start taking into account the effect of civilian casualties in their attacks in Muslim countries. His preferred alternative was to target non-Muslim countries. That advice, as we can see, was never adopted by the militant group.

The bin Laden letters revealed a man who over time lost control, not only of his organisation, but possibly also of his senses. He wanted to have US President Barack Obama and General David Petreaus assassinated but gave no clue as to how he might have wanted this done; he warned against an alliance with the Al-Shabaab terrorist group just a month before that partnership was formally announced. The letters also reveal that most of Bin Laden’s time was spent discussing media strategy, wondering which television network would give al Qaeda the most positive coverage. That Bin Laden’s instructions were apparently ignored and that he appeared to be frustrated with the al Qaeda franchises shows that the group may not be as unified as was once thought.

There are still many questions that these letters do not answer. For instance, we do not know anything, for instance, about how Bin Laden managed to evade capture for so long. No mention is made of whether he had help from the Pakistani government or military. However, these letters represent only a fraction of the documents found by the US Navy SEALS in his Abbottabad compound. They may have been sanitized to show the al Qaeda in the most impotent manner possible and to ensure that the group does not embarrass the US or its allies. We have only seen that part of the picture that the US wants us to see.

__________________
Kon Kehta hy k Main Gum-naam ho jaon ga
Main tu aik Baab hn Tareekh mein Likha jaon ga

Al Qaeda’s revenge in Bajaur

May 6th, 2012

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Hakimullah Mehsud has declared that he avenged the 2006 death of an al Qaeda commander by killing the Levies’ Quarter Master Fazle Rabbi in Khar, the headquarters of the Bajaur Agency, on May 4. But in doing so, he also killed 26 innocent citizens and wounded 76. Bajaur is the most unfortunate tribal agency because it is next to Kunar, the Afghan province where al Qaeda first made its home.

In 2006, a series of happenings triggered a war in Bajaur which went on till 2010, forcing large sections of the population to leave their homes and become refugees. This was ironic as Bajaur happens to be the smallest tribal agency with the largest population of almost a million. It was rendered prosperous because of its expatriate workers in the Gulf states. In the past, it has also been considered for inclusion in the ‘normally’ administered territory of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa together with neighbouring Malakand. But like Malakand, it was allowed to become hostage to Sufi Muhammad’s Tehreek-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Muhammadi (TNSM).

It soon became an attractive rest and recreation spot for al Qaeda warriors — which usually meant marrying local women — including its top leadership. In 2006, the Pakistan Army attacked Damadola in Bajaur to hunt down al Qaeda operatives. The controversy that followed this operation — which had caused collateral damage —sounds like the Lal Masjid affair, with falsehood becoming a weapon in the media rhetoric against the army. The truth is that al Qaeda number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri — who it has now emerged was already the number one after having deposed Osama bin Laden — frequented Bajaur to meet his wife and children there. He had married a woman from the Mohmand tribe who, along with her children, lived with her father. He in turn was beneficiary of a generous handout. The same year, in 2006, Pakistan paramilitaries killed the Syrian-born Marwan al-Suri in an encounter on the Kunar-Bajaur border.

A Mohmand cleric, Maulvi Faqir Muhammad arose as the al Qaeda-backed leader of the Taliban in Bajaur, who has escaped capture for the last six years, although it was rumoured earlier this year that he may have been killed. He is an important commander with approximately 3,000 warriors under his wing and is expected to fight the post-withdrawal war in Afghanistan. In August 2008, the army launched Operation Sherdil against him to stop the Taliban movement to and from Kunar. The terrorists were ousted from the agency by 2010 but, like warlord Fazlullah of Swat, Maulvi Faqir is able to make hit-and-run raids into the area. Bajaur is far too strategically important for al Qaeda to abandon. In the coming battle, this will be the funnel through which our warriors will cross over to fight the Northern Alliance.

Maulvi Faqir has been difficult to eliminate because of his alliance-making dexterity: he is aligned to Mullah Omar and al-Zawahiri. There are other terrorist outfits in Bajaur that owe similar allegiances and are at the beck and call of Maulvi Faqir. Since 2007, the Taliban are there together with the remnants of TNSM. But the Jaish-i-Muhammad is there too, headed by Qari Ali Rehman, who will unite against the Pakistan Army despite his differences with Maulvi Faqir. The Harkatul Jihadul Islami, which was involved in the Islamabad Marriot Hotel blast, is also active in Bajaur,

In the hornets’ nest of Bajaur — created in part by the media’s negative portrayal of the Damadola operation — are present two Uzbek groups as well. All the renegade terrorists of Pakistan are hiding in the Malakand-Bajaur area from where they can easily escape into Kunar to join the grand muster of al Qaeda’s foot soldiers. The suicide attack in Bajaur is a foretaste of what will transpire in the region after the US and Nato forces leave Afghanistan. As Pakistan officially predicts, the ensuing war in Afghanistan will seriously affect the normalcy of life from ‘Lyari to Giari’, igniting the internal combustion of sectarian violence in parallel to the ‘fundraising’ efforts by the Taliban through kidnappings, jailbreaks and bank dacoities.

Lyari operation — what now?

May 6th, 2012

After a week-long operation in Lyari, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has called for its suspension over the weekend. Given the complete failure of the police operation to achieve anything other than, unfortunately, dozens of needless deaths, hopefully the interior minister will make the suspension permanent. What we have in Lyari is essentially a case of estranged allies — the PPP and the Peoples Amn Committee (PAC) — having a very public and violent falling out. As much as the government may claim that the situation in Lyari is about drug trafficking or violence, and as much as the PAC may complain about being targeted because of its Baloch ethnicity, the operation in Lyari boils down to a turf war. Caught in the middle are the long-suffering residents of Lyari.

In some respects, this is a comeuppance that the PPP deserved. The PAC was always linked to the PPP. The party refused to accept any connection between the two, since the PAC was founded by the notorious gangster Rehman Baloch, but it is hard to deny that the two were, at worst, tenuous allies. Even Zulfiqar Mirza admitted as much when he resigned from his party positions. A falling out between the two, however, led the PAC to be banned. Now the group is fighting back.

The PPP is accused of arming the PAC to serve as its private militia and as an anti-MQM force. However, once the party realised it did not need the group for electoral success in Lyari, it quickly abandoned it. This does not mean that the PAC is not involved in drug smuggling, the illegal arms trade and extortion. But it does mean that the PPP has to own up to some responsibility for indulging these criminals when it suited them. When both sides are tainted, the use of police and paramilitary forces will achieve little. Rather, it is now time for arrests, negotiations and a vow to practise politics without enlisting the aid of hardened criminals. Given the situation in Lyari, for now this applies to the PPP, but this is advice that other political parties in Karachi should also heed. The intersection of politics with guns and gangsters has brought nothing but grief to the city. It is time to end that once and for all.

__________________
Kon Kehta hy k Main Gum-naam ho jaon ga
Main tu aik Baab hn Tareekh mein Likha jaon ga

Still missing

May 7th, 2012

As the Supreme Court continues its effort to recover persons who have gone missing in Balochistan, it has noted that the province has in fact turned into a kind of war zone — a situation which, of course, adds to the chaos prevailing there and consequently the difficulty in recovering those who have disappeared. Clearly frustrated by the failures of the authorities in this effort, the three-member bench of the court headed by the chief justice — while hearing the case at its Quetta registry — has given the chief secretary of the province, the inspector-general police and the director-general of the Frontier Corps a deadline of two weeks within which to produce the missing persons. The court was also displeased by the failures of the heads of the ISI and the MI to appear before it and pointed out that if police officials had the courage to speak the truth, the task of recovering the missing persons may become an easier one.

We all know why the police are reluctant to speak out. The distortions of power that exist in our country mean there are few who would be willing to speak out against the agencies. To do so would be to invite trouble. While human rights monitors have repeatedly pointed to their involvement, there are few who dare to question them. This issue of secrecy has emerged as a key factor in our failure to recover missing persons. People, too, have been asked to be kept in the dark, with the advocate-general of Balochistan seeking an in-camera discussion for a briefing on some cases. The court has agreed expressing the hope that this will help recover others.

What is most frightening is that even as the hearings continue, the pattern of disappearances continues unchanged. During the hearing, the Supreme Court was told seven people who were taken away from Quetta had re-appeared at their homes a few days ago. No doubt they, like others before them, will have been asked to maintain silence. Meanwhile, other people continue to be taken away and the basic problem remains unchanged.

Police brutality

May 7th, 2012

The case of Waqar Ahmed, who died at the Holy Family Hospital in Islamabad on April 29, from critical wounds allegedly inflicted by the police, calls attention once again to the methods used by our law enforcers to extract confessions during the course of investigation of cases.

The 18-year-old milk seller was allegedly kidnapped by a policeman and his two accomplices after a dispute with his employer. He was taken to — allegedly — a private torture cell where he was detained for a week and then dumped on a roadside. At the hospital, Ahmed reportedly claimed that he had been brutally tortured by policemen and they had beaten him with iron rods, tied to a chain, hanged from the ceiling. He had his nails pulled out with pliers and chilli powder thrown in his eyes. All this was done allegedly to extract a confession for something he says he did not do.

While the case is still under investigation, it has all the hallmarks of a typical case of police brutality, in which the custodians of the law are in fact its worst perpetrators. It calls to mind numerous other incidents, in particular the video footage of policemen torturing suspects in the vicinity of the Bhawana police station which emerged in 2010. The five policemen involved in that incident were acquitted and clearly nothing has changed from that time. The Punjab police, in particular, have over the years become synonymous with viciousness; cases where prisoners have been tortured are rife and incidents of extrajudicial killings continue. It is only when the media catches wind of a particular case that the police feel it necessary to take action. In this case, two constables and the SHO have been suspended, but this may not be enough. Dismissing junior officers may serve as a warning to others but the rot in the police system runs deep.

The pressure on the lower officers to extract confessions comes from the higher echelons of power. Without the methods and tools to carry out investigations, the lower police perhaps feel that torture is the only instrument at their disposal. It has to be made clear that confessions extracted under torture are frequently false and the police need to be trained to collect evidence and conduct proper investigation. It is high time that the thana culture is overhauled.

Mohammad Asif’s release

May 7th, 2012

Weeks after the youthful Muhammad Amir was released from a juvenile detention centre in Dorset, the second Pakistani fast bowler, Mohammad Asif, caught up in the 2010 spot-fixing scandal has also been released from behind the bars of Canterbury Jail and deported to Pakistan. Asif was made to serve half the 12-month sentence awarded to him.

What is upsetting is that the bowler seems unabashed by his experience. He continues to deny guilt, insisting that the fateful no-ball he bowled at a specific moment in the match came as a result of directions issued to him by Captain Salman Butt to run in faster. The latter, himself, is currently serving a two-and-a-half year sentence. Frankly, Asif’s attempt to affix all blame on Butt is hard to believe. While Amir had the cover of youth, making it easier to believe he may have been coerced into wrongdoing, this does not hold true for the more experienced Asif. The hearing of the case had also tersely noted that he may well have been involved in past fixing scandals even though there is no proof of this. In such a scenario, focusing on legal flaws in the case and pointing fingers at others seems like an act of cowardice. Asif’s past records also include involvements in drug scandals, which do little to build credibility for the talented bowler.

The release of Asif and the consequent refocus on the fixing business should be seen as a wake-up call for cricket in Pakistan. During the months spent in detention by its cricketers, the Pakistan Cricket Board should have been putting in place a long-term strategy to tackle the problem. The issue is, of course, an international one; the lust for money is universal. But we can make some effort to avoid future embarrassment against this menace and also setting in place mechanisms to both inculcate values in youthful cricketers and offer them an escape route when they find they are being pulled into the fixing trap by forces within or outside the team they represent.

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Kon Kehta hy k Main Gum-naam ho jaon ga
Main tu aik Baab hn Tareekh mein Likha jaon ga

Nato supply route and sanctions

May 8th, 2012

Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar has stated in his usually blunt style that if Pakistan did not come up with a clear position on the resumption of the Nato supply route, it might face sanctions under the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution to which Pakistan agreed. He must have been anxious about the time it was taking his government to finalise its position for the next round of diplomatic negotiations with the US on the supply route that was closed sixth months ago. Needless to say, the Americans are keen to come to some kind of agreement with Islamabad but are repeatedly told that the Pakistani position is not ready yet.

Of course, sanctions are not yet on the cards but if imposed, they will be tough for Pakistan given the fact that its economy is in an oxygen tent and the oxygen comes mostly from the US and its allies. Universal sanctions are disastrous for any country, but they require all permanent members of the UNSC to agree to them. Partial sanctions initiated by a single country — in this case the US — are less dangerous but they can still put Pakistan under a lot of pressure. Take the example of Iran: the sanctions imposed on it are partial because China, India and Russia do not go along with them; nonetheless, Iran is under pressure because the allies of the US are willing to back them.

Pakistan, of course, will be backed by China and no universal sanctions will be imposed — at least not yet. But even unilateral sanctions imposed by the US will damage Pakistan more than they could Iran. Pakistan is dependent on direct assistance from the US and on aid from multinational institutions in shape of concessional loans. These can be foreclosed and repayments made stringent. Sanctions are bad for any country because they signal the extent to which the country has been isolated from the international community. Isolation again is a relative term: Iran can afford it because its economy is up to 90 per cent dependent on oil exports for its revenue, which the world must buy. Pakistan cannot afford isolation; its liabilities are so big that China cannot bankroll them even if it wanted to.

Mr Mukhtar was referring to the UNSC resolution 1386 (2001), which called upon “Member states to contribute personnel, equipment and other resources to the Force and authorised those states participating in it to take all necessary measures to fulfil its mandate”. Pakistan has been in defiance mode since November 2011 when the Salala incident took place, but the causes for umbrage were a bit older, which included the killing of Osama bin Laden in May 2011 and the even earlier incident of a CIA contractor killing two Pakistanis in Lahore. The government subsequently decided to throw its foreign policy to parliament, which had already passed impractical strictures on the US.

The parliamentary committee in charge of laying down principles for the conduct of Pakistan’s foreign policy promulgated the new regime of rules of engagement in March but after endorsing them, parliament splintered internally over its implementation. The rules were loaded with the kind of red tape measures that would make the execution of any agreement over the supply route almost impossible. Highly emotive in content that was reflective of concerns of the military, the new regime asked for a formal apology from the US over the Salala incident and a nuclear deal comparable to the one signed by the US with India.

The result is a stalemate. Writing in this newspaper, senior diplomat Tariq Fatemi stated that stalemate was not an option for Pakistan: “Not only did the process [in parliament] proceed at a desultory pace, the government did nothing to restrain those who sought to whip up popular passions in the guise of national honour and dignity. In the process, the government may have scored a few brownie points, but today finds itself in the straitjacket imposed by the parliamentary resolution”. Pakistan’s folly is that it has tied foreign policy to public passions and is now hamstrung to employ flexible diplomacy where needed.

Elections in Europe

May 8th, 2012

A spate of elections across Europe have shown one definite trend: the voters are in an anti-incumbent mood and are almost certain to vote out unpopular governments. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy became the first head of state in decades to serve only one term after he was defeated by the socialist Francois Hollande. Voters in Greece did not give a majority to any one party but those in power suffered huge and unprecedented losses. Similarly, elections in the German province of Schleswig-Holstein saw Angela Merkel’s coalition losing its majority. The only recent election to buck this anti-incumbent trend was London’s mayoral election, but that had more to do with Boris Johnson’s personal charm and his successful attempt in distancing himself from the hugely unpopular Prime Minister David Cameron.

The one word that sums up the reason for this anti-government fervour is austerity. In the wake of the financial meltdown and subsequent recession, governments across Europe have been slashing budgets and cutting down on services provided to the people. These steps were mostly dictated by the European Union and have been predictably unpopular. Citizens, especially in Europe, expect a certain number of services to be provided by their governments and having that denied to them is not going to boost the popularity of the current regimes. Austerity has also not done much to lift Europe out of its economic downturn; rather it only seems to have prolonged it.

While a slight move to the left in Europe is welcome, there is also a more sinister element to the anti-government sentiments. The extreme right, with an agenda of fear-mongering and anti-immigration, has been using the recession to boost its popularity. In France, Hollande was only able to defeat Sarkozy because Marie Le Pen did not instruct her supporters to back the president. Greece, too, saw a surge in the popularity of extreme right parties. So strong is the sentiment against centrist governments that the hatred displayed by the extreme right is not enough to turn off voters. Under the guise of populism, these parties are slowly gaining respectability without having to renounce policies that give off a whiff of fascism.

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Kon Kehta hy k Main Gum-naam ho jaon ga
Main tu aik Baab hn Tareekh mein Likha jaon ga

Increased trade with India

May 9th, 2012

As Pakistan and India inch towards better ties, hope lies in the fact that the two governments currently in power seem committed to improving relations in a realistic, concrete manner. Seemingly realising that an accord on Kashmir or agreements on terrorism are beyond the realm of possibility at this time, the two sides have concentrated on trade, where there are mutual benefits to be found. Speaking at a cross-border business conference in Lahore, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani echoed this, saying that he can foresee trade between the two countries running into billions of dollars. Till now, senseless restrictions and prohibitive tariffs have held potential trade between the two countries back. All this seems to be slowly changing as both sides realise that the fruits of trade can help overcome historical enmity.

Another sign of progress is that the main opposition party is trying to outflank the government by being even more dovish in its policy towards India, rather than going after the government for not being hawkish enough. Just a few days ago, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif said that Pakistan should abolish the visa regime with India, even if it has to do so unilaterally. Even the PPP government, as eager as it is to pursue peace with India, will not take quite so bold an action but that it is being pressed to speed up the pace of normalisation with India is very encouraging. If the two biggest parties in the country decide that peace is the only way to go, the military will find it harder to stymie their efforts.

Pursuing peace through trade may be the best strategy to deploy currently, but there are other low-risk steps that can be taken concurrently. While doing away with visas altogether may not be plausible, both countries can certainly make it easier for families on both sides of the border to visit each other. Entertainers, artists and sportsmen should not have to go through hoops just to visit the other country. Such trips can serve to reduce mistrust and build ties between people who have been denied contact with their neighbours. Once mistrust is minimised, governments can get around to discussing thorny, seemingly unsolvable issues like Kashmir.

Clinton’s accusations

May 9th, 2012

The Foreign Office may be the only entity in the world unaware of the fact that Pakistan has been used as a hideout by al Qaeda and its various allies. A day after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she believed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is hiding in Pakistan, the Foreign Office responded by rubbishing the allegations. We have seen this game being played out before. In 2010, Clinton made similar allegations about then-al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and the Foreign Office was similarly outraged at the suggestion. A year later, Osama was found in the garrison town of Abbottabad. With Osama, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Attash and Ramzi bin al-Shibh being among the many of senior al Qaeda operatives who were found in Pakistan, we have lost all plausible deniability.

Instead of issuing denials, we would be better served by acknowledging the possibility that we have terrorists in our midst and then explaining to the US how finding them can be like searching for the proverbial needle in the haystack. The problem is that right now no one is inclined to buy those explanations. When the US and Afghanistan decided to start negotiations with the Afghan Taliban, with the chance of us being sidelined from the process, we were able to capture Mullah Omar’s second-in-command Mullah Baradar. With the US having levelled accusations that our intelligence agencies may be supporting the Afghan Taliban, such actions, based on self-interest, serve only to confirm its worst fears.

In this background, for Clinton to say what she did and follow it up with a plea for Pakistan to work harder to capture militants was not too inappropriate. What she should have been more careful about was the venue where her accusations were made. She gave this speech in India, which was sure to raise Pakistani hackles. But ultimately, whatever the venue, the responsibility is on us to root out militants that have found it all too easy to hide in our country.

Unrelenting assault

May 9th, 2012

So how many more cases of polio will it take before we realise that we need to do more to combat a disease, which continues to rampage through our country. Still more ironic is the fact that in many ways we know perfectly well why this is so — but still seem unable to do too much about it. The latest case has emerged in the conflict-torn Bara Tehsil of Khyber Agency, where a one-year-old girl has been found afflicted by the virus and left paralysed. The ongoing military operation in the area has left vaccination teams unable to visit for months, leading to the area being labelled a ‘high-risk’ zone.

The case reported from Khyber Agency brings the number of cases recorded this year to 15. Last year, 198 polio cases were reported in the country — the highest in the world. The figures gave rise to immediate panic and international warnings that Pakistan could be declared a polio disaster area, with the possibility of restricted travel to the country. Obviously the situation is bleak. Special assistant to the Prime Minister Shahnaz Wazir Ali has said as much at a meeting conducted on May 7 to assess the situation, emphasising that more needed to be done to make vaccination available to all.

This, of course, is correct. There can be no doubt at all that we need to plug the leaks and flaws in the system, which keeps us among the only three polio endemic countries in the world. But, perhaps, amidst all the pessimism, we need also to look at the brighter side of a cloudy sky.

The fact is that last year, 33 cases had been reported during the same period — nearly double the number for 2012. Of course, cases have a habit of mounting as the year closes and tallies are combined. Nevertheless, the lower figure into May is in some ways encouraging, and suggests that the stepped up effort being made may be having some impact. We must hope that this is true and that the problems still being faced, notably due to security reasons, will be tackled before the year ends.

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Kon Kehta hy k Main Gum-naam ho jaon ga
Main tu aik Baab hn Tareekh mein Likha jaon ga

Answerable to parliament

May 10th, 2012

If good intentions counted for much the PPP would have resolved the most pressing governance issue facing the country: that of the civil-military imbalance. The PPP has always talked a good game in this regard but seldom had the power to follow through with it. Soon after taking power in 2008, the government decided to place the ISI under the authority of the interior ministry in a bid to rein in the spy agency. It only took a day of frantic behind-the-scene manoeuvring for that decision to be reversed. Then, after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the PPP government volunteered to send the ISI chief to New Delhi to cooperate with the Indian investigators. That, too, was presumably viewed by the establishment as usurpation of its authority by civilians and the offer was promptly withdrawn. There is a case to be made that neither of these initial PPP positions were particularly wise in the first place (in the sense that such things should have been better thought through) but that is besides the point. The fact remains that making mistakes like these is the prerogative of the civilians, without the military having an automatic veto.

Now it looks like the government may be preparing to have another go. Raza Rabbani, the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS), has said that ways are being considered to track all the people who have gone ‘missing’ and figuring out how to stop the intelligence agencies from abducting more people. The devil, as always, will be in the details. For the PCNS to simply state that it will deal with the intelligence agencies will not be enough. Its recommendations will only have teeth if it first demonstrates its legitimate authority, which it derives from parliament itself. One way of doing that would be to ask the heads of all intelligence agencies to appear in parliament and explain why people are being abducted and held incommunicado. If this were to happen it would, perhaps, make possible a situation where all intelligence agencies — like in most civilised nations — are answerable to parliament and the government of the day for their acts of omission and commission.

Deadly clash

May 10th, 2012

It is sometimes easy to forget those living in other parts of the country, that what amounts to a full-fledged civil war, is currently raging on in North Waziristan. The details coming out from that inaccessible area are hazy, and it is hard to even guess the facts. However, news of intense battles, such as the one that occurred on May 10, offers us a reminder of the bloodshed that is taking place in that remote, rugged region. Indeed, figures for the numbers who have been killed are hard to come by.

The violent clash involving the Pakistan Army troops, militants and gunship helicopters that were called in by the soldiers, came a day after 10 persons — described as insurgents — had died in a drone attack. Their true identities remain difficult to ascertain. But it seems that the ambushing of a military convoy close to the Amin picket point near Miramshah was intended as a retaliatory attack by the militants. Nine soldiers were killed as the convoy came under heavy fire with rockets and other weapons directed towards it. The Amin picket point has been struck before, but this was one of the most ferocious attacks that it had faced. The military, which called in air reinforcement, says several militants were also killed, but it is hard to determine what their number may have been.

Tragically, there were also civilian casualties. In the aerial shelling that took place as the clash intensified, a mosque is reported to have also been struck, killing three civilians — including according to some accounts — the prayer leader at the mosque. We need to ask ourselves how long we can sustain such fighting; what toll is it taking on our country and what the final outcome is to be. It is clear that the militants remain capable of striking where and when they please. They do not appear to have been weakened at all, and this raises before us many difficult questions. We need to see whether we need a rethink of the strategy employed in the tribal areas. We need to find a way to end the violence, which has shattered the lives of the people of the region.

Hope for consumers

May 10th, 2012

The trend of taking commercial organisations of every kind to consumer courts is on the rise. This could lead to a change in the culture in our country and alter the situation in which consumers felt unable to do anything to ensure that they were fairly treated, with the options available to them severely limited. Unlike other countries where consumers wield considerable power, the hands of Pakistani consumers were tied. The knots have now been loosened.

In the latest case, a small eatery located at Badami Bagh in Lahore has been sued for Rs800,000 by a petitioner who says he fell sick, as did some of his friends, after eating at the restaurant. He has brought in a damages suit for ‘mental torture’ and the rude behaviour of the staff. The management of the eatery says that no complaints were made to it, and, therefore, there was no opportunity given to it to tackle the matter. The case of the ‘stale mutton’ we are hearing about is, of course, hardly unique. All kinds of problems have arisen through the years due to the poor hygiene and storage standards at restaurants. Almost all of us will have experienced this at one time or the other, whether eating at a high-end establishment or at a roadside cafe. In this context, the ruling of the consumer court will be watched with interest and curiosity.

With dozens of rulings — against electronic companies, shampoo manufacturers, mobile phone businesses and other concerns — from the consumer courts, it is clear that they are gaining clout. People have begun taking more matters before them, including cases of medical negligence. At least in Lahore, there is evidence that retail outlets are adopting a more ethical approach; gradually, we hope, larger commercial manufacturers will do the same, making the commercial jungle a safer place for consumers.

We need more consumer courts to take this trend further and also raise awareness among people everywhere of what they are entitled to.

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Kon Kehta hy k Main Gum-naam ho jaon ga
Main tu aik Baab hn Tareekh mein Likha jaon ga

A message that hasn’t died after 100 years

May 11th, 2012

In Urdu, a ‘stylist’ is usually someone who writes an ornate style, but Saadat Hasan Manto (1912-1955) emerges as a great stylist after your ear picks up and the image-seeking eye has tired. Urdu literature in Pakistan has suffered a decline at the hands of hardline advocates of religion and the books they prescribed for schools. Manto is the sentinel that stands defiantly in the face of this race to the bottom. The dominance of Manto in Urdu is in the rhythm of the sentence, the sort that Urdu poetry never lacked but is possible in prose. Manto worked hard on his diction despite the impression given by his publishers that he would write on the insides of an empty pack of cigarettes while travelling on a tonga.

Both Pakistan and India have got Manto wrong. In India he is read because he is seen to reject the creation of Pakistan; in Pakistan, purists, apart from blasting him for ‘obscenity’, at times tend to agree with this interpretation. In fact, both India and Pakistan are involved in doing horrible things to each other’s potential citizens. If Manto negated Pakistan in his story Toba Tek Singh, he also negated elsewhere a communalist India that made it impossible for him to stay on in Bombay. His best portrait was of film actor Shyam, also his best friend, who once said he would have killed Manto had he (Shyam) been present at a Rawalpindi massacre of Hindus.

Manto was really in love with only one city, Bombay. That is where he succeeded as a writer and as an observer of men. In Lahore, people might remember him as a bitter, insulting man who respected hardly anyone, but back in Bombay he was able to admire Hindu actors like Shyam and Ashok, and write a wonderful sketch of actress “Parichehra” Naseem Bano only to understand the Hindu-Muslim divide a lot better than most of us and write about it with the kind of mordancy that we often don’t favour in our partisanship. He once did not treat Pakistani cinema icon Noor Jahan too well but the great lady, recognising his genius, always turned up when invited by him.

Manto did not want to return to Lahore. He went to Delhi to work for the radio for a time only to return to Bombay. Then riots overtook Bombay and broke his heart. He was asked by Ashok’s film company to leave after it received communal threats. The remainder of his days that were spent in Lahore — where he was to be put under trial for obscenity and hated by the rightists and progressive writers equally — were drowned in alcohol trying to forget the city he had loved. What we got as a spin-off was the best ‘partition’ writing that we have managed.

Manto irreverently made a psychological study of the founder of the nation, the Quaid-e-Azam, but his more biting iconoclasm was expressed in his stories like Thanda Gosht (Cold Meat). There is the famous Khol Do (Open Up) about a girl raped by Sikhs, and The Assignment, which brings out the complexity of the communal mind Manto had hinted at. Among the sketches, “Pathanistan” rebukes with greater intensity today than it did in 1947. Manto’s sketches were cinematic spin-offs from the carnage of 1947.

Manto would not have celebrated his 85th birthday in 1997 when South Asia was on the brink of nuclearisation. Maybe today he would have agreed to celebrate his 100th birthday seeing that Pakistan and India are about to normalise their bedevilled relationship. That should make us all, on both sides of the long line that divides us, pause and think. Manto’s humanism inclined him to the conviction that happiness does not necessarily lie in conflicts over religion and nationalism but on fellowship and caring, on love and decency, on tolerance and forgiveness. Never were these qualities more in need in the subcontinent than they are today. Some right-wing critics (the leftists never liked him) say Manto was no good because his fiction didn’t have a “maqsad” (objective). The truth of the matter is that he, more than any other writer of Urdu, has a message that hasn’t died after a 100 years.

Corruption by bureaucrats

May 11th, 2012

Last week, a son of the Capital Development Authority was caught on videotape verbally abusing and intimidating a woman and her son. Amid the furore over the incident, another transgression was overlooked: that the son was misusing his father’s official car. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) revealed on May 9 that bureaucrats were misusing the benefits system by using official vehicles and then also collecting the monthly allowance they are allowed to receive if they do not use government cars. We hear a lot about the corruption of our elected leaders but the bureaucrats may be even worse. Their corruption is far more systemic and their underhand practices are rarely brought to the public’s attention. What they see as a creative way to add to their already considerable benefits is actually causing losses in billions of rupees to the exchequer.

Now that the PAC has revealed this abuse by bureaucrats, it is incumbent on the body to take strict action. The first step it should take is to name and shame those who are taking advantage of the benefits system and then haul them before parliament. A simple warning is not enough. Those found guilty are no better than common thieves and so they should be treated as criminals. Firing them is an option or, at the very least, they should be suspended from their jobs without pay for a significant period. This should hopefully deter others from taking undue advantage at the expense of the taxpayers.

But only taking action against individuals will not suffice. The PAC also needs to look at how such abuse is made possible. That means exploring corruption at a structural level. It should not be so easy to double-charge the government for benefits. That so many bureaucrats were able to do so for so long means that it is the entire system that is rotten. Rather than being seen as the crime that it is, such corruption is merely winked and nodded at. What is needed is reform of a system where taxpayers’ money is casually divided up by greedy government workers. Simple audits are not enough; the entire culture of government will have to be overhauled.

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Kon Kehta hy k Main Gum-naam ho jaon ga
Main tu aik Baab hn Tareekh mein Likha jaon ga