A welcome proposal on forced marriages

June 11th, 2012

The British government is considering introducing legislation against expatriate parents who force their daughters to marry according to parental choice. The plan is to make forced marriage a criminal offence. This is in reaction to 2,000 cases of persons coerced into matrimony since January 2011. A majority of the cases involved girls under 21 years of age “with some under 15”. Many of the cases pertained to families coming from Pakistan and Bangladesh.

This was bound to happen. Already, girls in the UK are told to report coercion to the police. There are cases where girls are brought to Pakistan and Bangladesh and then suddenly asked to marry a cousin, whereupon, some girls approach the British embassy for help. As far as Pakistan is concerned, forced marriage is against the law and there are daily incidents of girls being forced to marry inappropriate spouses under parental fiat. Furthermore, girls daring to get married without parental permission are maltreated and sometimes killed.

In the UK in particular, and in Europe in general, Muslim communities are not integrating too well into local society and culture. While some of the identity differences must be maintained, there are certain rituals like the treatment of the woman or girl by the male head of the Muslim family, which is not permissible even in the country of origin. One well-known sociologist sums up the expat plight thus: “Common understandings of the way Muslims define their boundaries with European society focus on the areas of purity, sexuality and religion. Purity relates to food (pork, halal meat), drink (alcohol) and habits of cleanliness. Sexuality relates to control over women. In terms of religion, Muslims may view Europe as an anti-Islamic society because of its degree of secularisation and the separation of church and state. Purity and sexuality provide a sense of moral superiority, which may compensate for class inferiority.”

While Pakistanis are responsible for three per cent of the births in the UK, they account for 33 per cent of children with genetic birth defects. Lowered intellectual capacity is another devastating consequence of Muslim marriage patterns. According to research, children of consanguinous marriages (cousin marriage) can have lower IQs and social abilities may at times develop much slower in inbred babies.

The new law will only bring relief to the girls now growing up in the labour class, which forms majority of the Pakistani community living in the UK. But the need is also to firm up the laws in Pakistan aimed against maltreatment and brutalisation of girls if they refuse to marry according to the will of the parents or get married on their own to avoid being coerced into a marriage they don’t want. It should be noted that in the UK — where the Pakistanis are more in number than any other Muslim nationality — non-Muslim expatriates have integrated quite well and have, therefore, improved their economic status. Pakistan must move to correct the situation. In other words, it is also the duty of Pakistan to help the British government in overcoming problems of introversion in the Pakistani community living in the UK. This can be done by improving the laws in Pakistan relating to marital coercion, expressly banned by Islam.

In Pakistan, in fact, traditional marriages tend to completely ignore the wishes of the bride-to-be. This is a reflection of our misogynistic and deeply patriarchal society and the consequence of this is a severe stifling of choice as far as Pakistani women are concerned. This, in turn, leads to a situation where women have practically no voice and say in perhaps the most important of decisions, one that will have far-reaching effect on their lives. This attitude and mindset needs to change as well, and if that happens, it could have a positive impact on the problem of forced marriages in countries such as the UK.

House of horrors

June 11th, 2012

At fair grounds and carnivals organised around the world, ‘houses of horror’ are set up to thrill and scare people looking for such entertainment. However, here in Pakistan, we do not need such arrangements. The entire country is turning into a house of horror where anybody could die at anytime and anywhere. The blood that has been shed is a reminder of the extent to which the country has failed to contain the violence, which has taken thousands of lives over the past decade.

After a period of relative peace, the city of Peshawar was again thrown into agony by a blast aboard a bus heading from its suburbs to Charsadda. The bus was essentially intended to carry employees of the civil secretariat, though some civilians had also boarded it in Peshawar. The explosion that ripped through the vehicle as it prepared to depart, killed at least 19 people, including six women, and injured many more. Some of these victims still lie on hospital beds struggling for life. The bomb, according to police reports, was planted either inside or under the bus and appears to have been intended to target government servants who were travelling on it.

We all know who is behind these acts of terrorism. In recent days, it seems that the Taliban have been demonstrating their increased power to kill and maim. The question is that when we know who the culprits are, why can we not stop them. We see before us a complete failure on the part of our intelligence and security apparatus. This state of affairs has gone on for far too long. Pakistan has acquired a reputation as a country where terrorists strike at will with no one there to stop them. This is not at all comforting. So far, all the measures that have been taken to deal with militancy have failed miserably. As a result, innocent people continue to die by the dozen; life has lost value. So what are the answers? So far, we have not been able to come up with any but it is obvious that they have to be found no matter what it takes if we are to end the orgy of violence that continues to inflict deep wounds across the country and leaves it in tatters.

Father, son and Supreme Court

June 12th, 2012

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has asserted that “neither the Pakistan Army nor the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had anything to gain from the alleged case of graft charges on Arsalan Iftikhar”. He also said that “the PPP respects all institutions and has no score to settle with the judiciary”, but added mysteriously that the accuser in the case, the real estate tycoon “Malik Riaz had ties with all political parties and not just the PPP”.

What was not a mystery was the way he tried to weave the cases against his own sons with the allegations Malik Riaz had made with the help of certain journalists. The undeclared intent was to award a certificate of innocence to the son of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in hopes of extending it to his sons. The truth of the matter is that Justice Chaudhry has called his son to the Court and has placed the burden of proof, to be presented against him, with Malik Riaz, whose lawyer has initiated the process by denying that his client ever met any journalists to reveal the scandal he attaches to the Chief Justice’s son.

Here the mystery deepens: Malik Riaz will return to Pakistan from abroad against the advice of his doctor as a gesture of respect for the Supreme Court — despite health issues — and depose before the two-judge bench set up to hear the case. By all signs and tokens, the gentleman is going to recant and seek some kind of closure to the case that he has unleashed with his accusations. At least, his lawyer seeks to give the impression that no sparks are going to fly.

It is hard to tell what the endgame will be. If Mr Riaz thinks he will get away by pinning all the accusations on the son of the Chief Justice, while definitively asserting that the latter did not know what his son was doing and was uninvolved in the gallivanting that Arsalan Iftikhar was doing with big money in Europe, he is mistaken. This scandal is going to unfold further and is going to claim its martyrs.

The journalists, who accept that they visited Mr Riaz and saw some of the evidence of Arsalan Iftikhar benefiting from the bounty of the tycoon to the tune of millions of rupees, are already scurrying for cover. There is argument unfolding on TV channels about whether they collaborated with Mr Riaz or reported the matter unethically. Some of them were convinced that there was meat in the evidence shown to them but are now collectively arrayed in defence of the Chief Justice as the targeted party of what they think was a ‘sting operation’ or entrapment.

The journalists are also claiming that they did not disclose the details of the case till much later when politicians began to refer to it. They thought that they should keep the lid on the scandal till they had more solid proof. This, one might say, is not an entirely immaculate assertion. Scandals have been dug up and made to blow up when the proof in some cases was quite slender. What they may, in fact, be fearing is that they may have unknowingly become accessories in the sting operation. The enveloping irony is that Mr Riaz says he did not even meet the journalists.

The most fallacious and misleading ‘principle’ lately established in Pakistan for arriving at a correct apportionment of blame is initiated by the question: who benefits? It is often used to blame India, the US and Israel for the acts of terrorism that happen in Pakistan. This formula has become so popular — it was a part of the ‘games theory’ originally — that people are now trying to focus on the PPP for Arsalangate. Just because the Chief Justice was seen to be victimising the PPP government, it would be incorrect to assume that the PPP has got back at him through Malik Riaz.

The case will unfold at the Supreme Court in the coming days. Even if the accusations are withdrawn or deemed non-existent, things are not going to be the same in this cauldron of scandals called Pakistan. But then how else should a nation achieve self-correction?

Law and lawmakers

June 12th, 2012

The tendency to violate law by those employed to enforce it is on the rise. This is one of the factors that has led to a complete breakdown of law and order in our blighted land. The latest such case occurred at Fort Monroe in the Dera Ghazi Khan district where five girls, visiting the area situated in the Suleiman Mountains Range from Lahore and Bahawalpur, were taken to the local police station and allegedly raped by five members of the Border Military Police (BMP). Three of the men, who were held at Fort Monroe police station escaped supported by hundreds of tribesmen once the incident came to light. Fortunately, they have now turned themselves in while two other BMP personnel remain on the run. The case has been brought against them. One of the accused claims that the women were ‘call girls’. This stands neither here nor there. There can be no excuse for such behaviour on the part of those meant to ensure that citizens are protected. We have seen security personnel use their power and influence in a similar,unlawful manner before. It is time that this tendency is brought to an end.

How is this to happen? It will be possible only if a thorough and impartial investigation of the incident takes place and if found guilty, exemplary punishment is meted out to the BMP personnel involved. It must be ensured that they are tried under relevant laws and dealt with in a similar manner that ordinary citizens. There is no doubt that what happened at Fort Monroe police station is unforgivable.

Regardless of who these women were, it was the duty of the security forces to ensure that they were kept safe. This did not happen. The fact that security personnel feel that they are immune from the law is one reason why such incidents occur. There must be an active attempt to alter the attitude of all men in uniform and it must be made clear to them that they have even greater responsibility than others to uphold the law and ensure it is not violated. Unless this change in attitude does not take place, we will continue to see such abuse of power at the hand of the law enforcers.

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

Holy cow!

June 13th, 2012

The scandal that has already enveloped Dr Arsalan Iftikhar, the son of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, reached a crescendo on June 12 as business tycoon Malik Riaz submitted a written statement to the Supreme Court and then addressed an explosive press conference later in the day laced with very serious allegations. In his statement before the apex court, he alleged that he had given Arsalan nearly Rs350 million in the form of foreign trips and cash payments over a period of three years in exchange for the latter promising to help settle cases related to Bahria Town pending in the apex court. At the press conference, Riaz (who said he had come with a copy of the Holy Quran) told journalists that the CJ should answer whether he had met Riaz in the “dark of the night” and that in such meetings a “sitting registrar” of the apex court as well as “a sitting Supreme Court judge” would also be present. He also alleged that he didn’t give the money voluntarily and was compelled to do so under duress. Not only has Malik Riaz tried to incriminate Arsalan Iftikhar, he has also attempted to implicate the CJ by suggesting that he knew what was going on. The CJ has been widely praised for initiating a suo motu case against his own son before withdrawing himself from it and also for hearing cases on very important national issues such as missing persons and Balochistan involving some of Pakistan’s holy cows. However, now people may wonder how he was not aware of his son’s lavish lifestyle. Also, perhaps answers to some of the questions that Riaz raised at his press conference may be necessary to clear up the air. Arsalan has claimed that he earned his money through his telecommunication company, which got lucrative contracts from major telecommunication companies. That explanation itself raises more questions than it tries to answer.

This is also a scandal that is not limited to just the judiciary. Malik Riaz’s sphere of influence seemingly encompasses every politically-connected entity in Pakistan. Everyone seems to have a dog in this fight, and though the outcome may be uncertain, what is good is that we seem to be heading — albeit tottering in the eyes of some — towards a reality where there will not be any holy cows in the country. That is a good development from the point of view of establishing rule of law.

Militants in Tirah Valley

June 13th, 2012

For the last couple of years, after a series of impressive wins over the Taliban in Swat and South Waziristan, the army has preferred to go on the defensive, holding areas it already controls but not trying to remove the Taliban from other places. The results have predictably been disastrous. The Taliban have been able to regroup and take over more territory in the tribal areas. The latest domino to fall is Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency, which despite its remoteness, is strategically important since it borders Afghanistan and also connects to Bara, which then leads on to Peshawar. As big a loss as Tirah Valley is on its own, some would say that it is symbolic of the state’s retreat in the war on militancy. It has lost the will to take the fight to the Taliban, instead adopting a wait-and-see approach to the biggest problem the country is currently facing.

The fall of Tirah Valley is also proof of the failure of the military’s strategy to rely on tribal lashkars to do the fighting. In Tirah Valley, the local Kukikhel lashkar did not have the will or firepower to defeat the Taliban. As ingenious as the idea of having locals take on the Taliban may have seemed on paper, in practice, it has proven disastrous. The military has often left the lashkars to their own devices, rarely providing the air support that is crucial to ensure victory. The lashkars are a ragtag bunch of untrained men who are yet to receive the equipment promised by the military. Contrast this to the well-trained, well-armed Taliban and you have a mismatch that is allowing militants to take over more territory daily.

The other significance of Tirah is that it provides militants with another route into Afghanistan. This will facilitate greater cross-border terrorism and lead to more accusations of government complicity from the Karzai government. It also gives militants a launching pad from which to carry out attacks in Peshawar. The military needs to retake Tirah Valley before the Taliban become so established that driving them out becomes impossible.

Boxing tussle

June 13th, 2012

Boxing, a sport widely played and followed in Pakistan, is on the canvas. Pakistani boxers failed to seal a berth at the London Olympics despite featuring in two qualifying events. The federation’s dependence on UK-based boxers backfired when Haroon Khan and Haider Riaz failed to take Pakistan boxing to London or win any laurels for the country.

While former world champion Amir Khan’s willingness to help local boxers might have given the federation and the athletes a ray of hope, the tussle between the Pakistan Boxing Federation’s (PBF) bigwigs — its president and secretary — has shaken the sport’s very foundations in the country. In the aftermath of the qualifying debacle, PBF President Doda Khan Bhutto claimed that secretary Akram Khan accepted bribes to include undeserving individuals in the national squad, as well as being involved in human trafficking. Akram, meanwhile, accused his president of misappropriating funds amounting to Rs15 million that were released by the Pakistan Sports Board for the Olympics preparation.

The pair looked to settle scores in the general body meeting held on June 10, but, despite the exchange of even more accusations, the matter is far from being resolved. While the struggle for virtue continued, a training camp for boxers was put on hold and some PBF officials still wait for their salaries that have not been paid for three months.

Pakistan has not featured in Olympics boxing since 2004, capturing its only medal in 1986 when Hussain Shah brought home a bronze. In a similar manner to various other sports federations in Pakistan, political appointments, lack of harmony among officials and misuse of funds keep tugging the athletes away from glory. Talent and ambition exist aplenty, but the misguided hands behind them result in agony. While all this takes place, the fans sit in anticipation, yearning to see Pakistan dominate global arenas the way it used to before the turn of the century.

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

Memogate report

June 14th, 2012

The judicial commission set up to investigate the so-called ‘memogate’ scandal has tried to put two and two together and has come up with a number that is most definitely not four. Its final report declares that there is incontrovertible proof that former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani was the originator and composer of the memo that was sent to the Americans by businessman Mansoor Ijaz. For all we know, that proof may well be present, although the commission is yet to share it and those who attended hearings of the commission had come away with a distinctly different impression of the proceedings. Certainly, Haqqani played a murky role in the composition of the memo that is yet to be fully explained but to declare him responsible requires a stretch of the imagination that certainly doesn’t rise to the level of being found guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

Some would also say that the commission’s commentary on Haqqani’s loyalties was unnecessary. It declared that the former ambassador was always trying to keep the Americans happy. Maybe the commission should keep in mind that staying on the good side of the US is an integral part of an ambassador’s job description. Haqqani has often suffered through the accusation of being an American at heart but it is a battle he has won, first through his job as ambassador and then by proving that he did not hold US citizenship.

The commission, in declaring that Haqqani worked against the interests of Pakistan by writing the memo, may want to take a closer look at its contents. It is difficult to raise objections against his desire to have the military brought under the control of civilians, as our Constitution demands. Asking the Americans to bring this change about is questionable, but the sentiment cannot be deemed entirely objectionable. Yet, it is in the nature of those opposed to civilian rule to change the subject from their misdeeds. In this case, the distraction was memogate and the scapegoat was Husain Haqqani.

Wasting resources on Siachen

June 14th, 2012

When an avalanche killed over 100 Pakistani soldiers in Siachen, there was hope that the one silver lining to emerge from the tragedy would be a realisation that fighting on the highest battlefield in the world was doing neither country any good. That hope only intensified when the PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif called for a withdrawal of troops from Siachen. With ties between India and Pakistan steadily improving, there were great expectations that talks between the defence secretaries of both countries would take place on the issue. It proved to be a false dawn. The two-day talks in Islamabad ended without any progress, with both sides simply agreeing to discuss the matter further.

Everyone knows that more troops in Siachen die because of the weather conditions than in combat. The strategic importance of Siachen is sometimes downplayed as the area is important for determining who controls water resources in case of war, but this in no way justifies the occupation of the glacier. At a time when there are hopes that outstanding issues like Kashmir may finally be nearing a solution, this stalemate has thrown cold water on such a desire. If an issue like Siachen cannot be resolved, then what hope is there for lasting peace between the two countries?

The peace process has been a case of two steps forward and then one step back. Just when it seems like breakthroughs are possible on issues like a relaxed visa regime, one of the two countries refuses to give its assent. Regrettably, in the talks over the visa regime and Siachen, it seems like India was less willing to make concessions. As the more powerful side, India often feels the need to flex its muscles. Lasting peace will bring economic and political benefits to both countries as they already spend far too much of their budgets on defence. A withdrawal from Siachen would free some of that money to be spent on more worthwhile endeavours.

Mehdi Hassan (1927-2012)

June 14th, 2012

We will never again hear the unparalleled voice of ghazal maestro Mehdi Hassan performing live again. His voice died forever as the great singer passed away at a private hospital in Karachi on the morning of June 13 after putting up with a long illness. Hassan had, in fact, not sung in public for quite a few years after suffering a serious stroke. What we are left with then are the recordings on tape and CDs of his singing and the unique style that came with it, adding new life to the form of music he raised to immense heights. What is sad is that during his years of illness, Hassan, according to his family, received very limited financial support from the government of Pakistan or from any other organisation within the country. Some reports say that more donations had come in from India to cover his medical expenses. At one point a few years ago, while performing at his concert in Lahore, the late Indian singer Jagjit Singh had appealed for funds to be provided for the treatment of the ailing artist who had so frequently sung before mass audiences across the border.

Unfortunately, Hassan received less appreciation at home as the years went by, especially after Radio Pakistan and the Pakistan Television removed their focus from more traditional forms of music, throwing them deeper into the shadows. Hassan has received several major official awards, including the coveted Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, Pride of Performance and Hilal-e-Imtiaz awards but despite this, in the end, he died surrounded only by his family and devoted music lovers.

Hassan, born in 1927 in Rajasthan, migrated to Pakistan in 1947 but always had a large loyal following in India. For decades, he kept alive the intricate art of the ghazal in the country adding to it many new dimensions. Today, we must ask ourselves if we will ever be able to produce new singers of the same calibre, given the way we have treated the traditional forms of music and our failure to instill any love for them among a generation that has grown up barely familiar with the works of Mehdi Hassan and others who are able to produce wizardry with words and the music that accompanies them.

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

The SC’s short order

June 15th, 2012

The Supreme Court’s short order in the Arsalan Iftikhar case directing the attorney general to take whatever action is necessary to investigate the charges levelled against the chief justice’s son and his son-in-law is a welcome development in that two positive things seem to have happened. The first is that the Court seems to have stepped back into investigating the allegations against the chief justice’s son and that is good because had it not done so, the Court, despite the fact that the chief justice had recused himself from the bench, would have been left open to accusations of conflict of interest. Since the matter concerned the son and son-in-law of the Supreme Court chief justice and given that it pertained to them being allegedly given favours in return for help in cases pending before the Court, it is good that the matter will now be investigated by the office of the attorney general. The second is that the law will now run its course and one hopes that it will unearth the truth.

The short order also noted that while Malik Riaz claimed that Rs327 million had been given in cash, the documents presented to the court provided only details of Arsalan Iftikhar’s foreign visits and did not contain any evidence of monetary transfers. Hence, in such a situation, it would make sense for the matter to be investigated further by law-enforcement authorities and this is precisely what seems to have been done with the directive to the attorney general. The order also noted that Malik Riaz did not provide any statement on behalf of his son-in-law and perhaps, this is also a lead that can be investigated by the attorney general.

The short order also advised the media that it needed to ensure that it was not being used by elements that were acting against the state or the Constitution. It noted further that in some instances it had attacked the judiciary and that statements made by journalists suggested that they did not try to get their facts straight. There is, for sure, a need for the media to raise its professional standards and this can be done by instituting and enforcing internal codes of conduct but one must not forget that it was the media that unearthed the matter in the first place — and that it has done so on many prior occasions as well.

Kohistan complexities

June 15th, 2012

We still do not know what happened in the remote Dassu village of Kohistan. We still do not know if the five women reported to be dead by a man whose brothers recorded videos of them are, in fact, really dead. What we do know is that the women have not been produced before the Supreme Court and no one quite knows where the truth lies.

According to a member of the team of women activists who visited Kohistan on Court orders, Dr Farzana Bari, she and her fellow fact-finders were able to ascertain the identity of only one woman.

Writing in this newspaper, Dr Bari has said that they were unsure who the second woman they saw was and the team was unable to find out anything about the other three who lived at an even remoter spot. The fact that members of the jirga who had given the death verdict, accompanied the activists makes it less likely that the villagers spoke the truth.

The Supreme Court is still locked in its struggle to discover what happened. Dr Bari’s warning that the women may be killed after the attention on the case fades away is also ominous. What is most frightening is that such incidents can still take place in our country. It appears that local officials have little desire to find out what has really transpired and are engaged in a game to cover up the entire matter. In fact, only media reports taken up by the Court brought the matter to light. We do not know how many other women may have been killed in secrecy in such parts of our country. It is also, of course, a reflection on our situation that even today, we should be talking of five women possibly killed merely for clapping their hands in the company of men. It is imperative that we get to the bottom of the matter and discover the whole truth. The Supreme Court must persist in its efforts and we hope it will be joined by reporters and human rights activists so that the fate of all those involved in the murky incident can come to light.

Friendlier words

June 15th, 2012

Pakistan’s officials, and its people, reeling under the volley of harsh words that have come their way from Washington of late — with Defence Secretary Leon Panetta and others all using increasingly strong language — will be relieved to hear slightly less aggressive language at last. Speaking in Washington during a discussion on 2013 budget priorities, senior Senator Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, suggested that Pakistan and the US needed to work together and maintain a harmonious working relationship. That relationship has seemed closer to cracking than ever before. The senator suggested that an apology from the US over the November 2011 Salala incident could go a long way to mend ties between the two countries.

Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, Sherry Rehman has welcomed Feinstein’s words. After all the diatribes and harsh attacks coming the country’s way, Feinstein’s words are enough to strike cheer in any heart. What is also clear is that Pakistan and the US both need each other. For all the tough talk of bombing Fata or staging ‘strategic attacks’, Washington cannot gain victory over the militants without Pakistan’s help. This is a reality, which holds all the more true now that there is talk of negotiations with certain Taliban factions. It is clear that Islamabad’s role will be required in this. It is also true that Pakistan — much as it would like to — cannot quite break free of the US right now, for reasons that include economic factors. A simple apology, a few words either written or spoken, over what happened at Salala should not be so difficult after all. Senator Feinstein has spoken with reason and rationality. Her words make good sense and come from experience. We must now hope that they have an impact and pride can be put aside for the sake of saving what is a strategically crucial relationship.

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

Some unanswered questions

June 16th, 2012

To call the Supreme Court’s suo motu hearing into the Arsalan Iftikhar bribery scandal a cover-up would be unfair. After all, the Court has clearly said that if it is established that the son-in-law of business tycoon, Malik Riaz, did indeed pay for the foreign trips of the chief justice’s son, then the matter should be investigated by the attorney general of Pakistan. But, at the same time, the short order spends some time on the importance of the Court’s reputation and how it must be protected at all costs. While there is no denying that that is the case, and all Pakistanis would want to see that happen, the matter more at hand was whether Malik Riaz’s very serious allegations against Arsalan Iftikhar were true or not. They seem to have been relegated given that the short order dwells in some detail on the matter of the Court’s reputation being besmirched in the eyes of the general public. Furthermore, if the matter has now been passed on to the attorney general, with the short order declaring that the court and the chief justice stand absolved of any links with Malik Riaz, can the attorney general, in his investigation of the overall matter, be expected to re-visit the alleged link? The short order also cites Malik Riaz’s contention that the money he gave to Arsalan Iftikhar did not gain him any relief in the Court. For one, this still does not address the issue that perhaps the businessman was saying this because he felt this was the only way out of the mess that he himself had perhaps created.

Another question that remains is whether any inquiry will be initiated into checking how the son of the chief justice, in the space of four years, managed to build a business, which, by his own admission, is worth some Rs900 million. So far, this case has embroiled the judiciary, the media and politicians. The one institution that has been missing is the military. Senior retired officers have worked for Bahria Town and while that is no crime at all, there has also been close cooperation, at times, between that entity and various defence housing authorities, which are headed by senior serving officers. If there is to be a transparent investigation into all aspects of this matter, it should cover all facets.

Revelling in revelations

June 16th, 2012

The entire nation seems to be talking about the latest scandal to have hit the airwaves. A ‘leaked’ video, which popped up on YouTube, shows that a TV talk show on a private channel was ‘planted’ and apparently intended to allow Malik Riaz — who stands at the centre of the entire Arsalan Iftikhar affair — hurl explosive allegations at several individuals. The interview itself, coupled with the ‘off air’ comments, which surfaced only hours later, tell a shocking story of bribery, deceit and corruption. The visual evidence put before us in that piece of film, taken away from a studio unknown by those who are featured in it, is something that will continue to rock us. It raises questions regarding the state to which we have sunk as a nation.

The integrity of the media is now under serious scrutiny as accusations are hurled back and forth. Here, we should remember that no absolute proof has been presented of all that was said during the interview. Several journalists were named as having been beneficiaries of Riaz. But it must be asked whether solid evidence regarding this exists. We need to put in place some means to ensure that the public is not fed pure untruth by the media at the behest of wealthy individuals. Investigating the matter of the anchorpersons named in the interview should become a priority.

In this regard, the fact that the interview and its off air leaked portion came to light may prove to be a blessing in disguise as it has brought the serious issue of how the media conducts itself in matters of national importance out into the open. Hopefully, this will lead to measures being taken by the media itself to set rules and regulations to regulate activities of journalists.

The incident also highlights how difficult it is to keep things hidden in today’s technologically advanced world. The question is whether this knowledge will lead us towards cleaning up our country and preventing matters from worsening still further as a result of scams and scandals that have been propping up with increased frequency.

Monsoon menace

June 16th, 2012

We are not far from the next monsoon season. After the devastation of 2010 and 2011, when Sindh in particular was badly affected, the thought of the coming monsoon season should fill us with trepidation. However, this does not appear to be the case. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) have warned the government that 29 districts of the country may be in danger from serious flooding. However, so far, there is no indication that the government has put in place any plan to combat what could turn out be another catastrophe.

Last year, too, the charity Oxfam had stated that Pakistan’s apparent unwillingness to think ahead about such disasters puts its people at great risk. The people of Sindh are still struggling to recover from the destruction caused by the floods. It is quite obvious that emergency measures need to be put in place immediately.

The NDMA and the PMD have suggested that the federal and provincial governments allocate a sum of money to deal with impending floods. But will anyone show the foresight to put such steps in place? In the past, we have treated monsoon rains and other natural calamities as acts of God, which we can do nothing about. It may be true that we cannot stop the rains from falling from the skies, but what can certainly be done is setting up proper measures to guarantee the safety of people, both by issuing early warnings and by organising evacuations in a sensible manner. We already know from past experience how acute the needs are of those who are forced to flee homes. This is the time to prepare for the possibility of flooding. It will not prevent the disaster, but it could go a long way in avoiding the kind of suffering that people endured in the past and may have to do so again if nothing is done in this regard. The government must wake up now rather than twiddle its thumbs and wait for the rains to fall.

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

An outdated jingoism

June 17th, 2012

Britain has a tradition of ‘diaries’ in which former public office holders reveal the big secrets that remained hidden during their tenures. A communications director of former prime minister Tony Blair in 2001, Alastair Campbell, has revealed in his diaries titled The Burden of Power that during a dinner in Islamabad, a five-star Pakistani general told him that Pakistan “could launch a nuclear strike on India within eight seconds”.

This happened in October 2001 after the 9/11 attacks in the US, and the writer got this gem at a dinner flanked by two Pakistani generals who harangued him on the atrocities unleashed by India in Kashmir, “killing their own people and trying to blame freedom fighters”. The book notes that “they were pretty convinced that one day there would be a nuclear war because India, despite its vast population and despite being seven times bigger, was unstable and determined to take them (nukes) out”.

Thinking that the British politicians would be meeting the Indians too, the talkative Pakistani general asked Campbell to tell the Indians that “it takes us eight seconds to get the missiles over”. This kind of bravado can only be understood as a psychological episode assaulting the Pakistani military-mind after the Kargil operation in which General (retd) Pervez Musharraf and his cohorts had been trounced by India, throwing Pakistan into an isolationist trough in the world, which Mushrarraf could climb out only by assenting to be a partner in the UN-mandated invasion of Afghanistan.

This was October 2001. In December, an attack was staged on the Indian parliament, killing seven people. India put the blame — and the world nodded in agreement — on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad groups for the assault. Pakistan cannot forget those days and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif continues to keep the memory alive by telling the nation how he as prime minister was close to reaching a peace deal with his Indian counterpart Atal Behari Vajpayee when then army chief scuttled it by misbehaving with Mr Vajpayee.

There was a time when Indian and Pakistani generals thought it was good for the health of the two nations to be hurling threats at each other. There are still ‘security first’ analysts who think that the Pakistan military should, as a routine, threaten India with destruction. But the environment in south Asia has changed — and it includes India — for the consideration of those who think that the latter has not reconciled to the existence of Pakistan. The change has come, not only in the Indo-Pak equation, but also with New Delhi’s relations with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The threat now is from Afghanistan and it is not India that will threaten Pakistan from Kabul.

Pakistan is threatened from within and it is not Israel, India and the US who are working in tandem to undo it. If that were the case, we would be much worse off than we are. The state in Pakistan is receding from the people it is supposed to serve. The people are suffering, not because of any Indian threat, but because of an energy crisis that afflicts India equally but not to the same extent. Institutional decay and dangerously diminishing service delivery is pushing the common man to suicide; and it is not because of what India is doing to people in Kashmir but what we are doing to the people of Pakistan.

Despite possessing the nuclear bomb, we are hardly better off than the non-nuclear neighbours of India. In fact, we are worse off because of the obligation of preventing the nukes from falling into the wrong hands and — and if our spooks are to be believed — from being “taken out” by the Americans. There is a real threat, despite our denials, that the terrorists led by al Qaeda and the Taliban might get to them in their pursuit of world domination. Whoever it was in 2001 who delivered the threat of nuclear strike in India in “eight seconds” must now be realising that nuclear weapons are finally of no use.

Some introspection, please

June 17th, 2012

The media has come to play an increasingly bigger role in all our lives. Television channels and the anchorpersons working for them are present in an increasing number of living rooms, invited in simply through the click of a button on a remote control; news bulletins blare out everywhere and are available over mobile phones and computers. As a result, there has been an obsession with the news and all that it contains. Endless discussions continue along the lines of the themes laid out, with news organisations setting the agenda for news by determining what we are interested in and what should capture our attention. Not surprisingly then, many issues that we should be concerned about go unnoticed and uncommented on for the most part. There are a large number of stories out there that we never get to hear about, even though they may have a potentially important effect on our lives in social, economic and political terms.

However, there is another more pressing matter at hand. The reliability of the news we hear and the integrity of those who present it is coming under serious scrutiny. There have been recent incidents, which testify to this. Well over 10 days after the news about the Kohistani jirga’s sentence first broke out, we still do not know how authentic the whole matter is nor have we learnt of the plight of all five women. Some months ago, the video of couples dating in parks made headlines and created quite a stir. It later transpired that the whole story was apparently nothing more than a hoax. The same can probably be said of many other cases. We simply do not know if what we are seeing on the screen, or even reading in print, is indeed the reality.

The situation must not be taken lightly. It needs to be assessed and analysed given the impact that the media has on setting patterns of thinking and establishing images of various institutions. It seems obvious that we need, at the very least, a code of conduct for the media and possibly tougher rules from the authorities concerned to penalise those who violate all norms of honesty. If this does not happen we will continue to be misled and misinformed.

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

Power riots in Punjab

June 19th, 2012

Cities across Punjab erupted in violent agitation against loadshedding on June 17, owing its vandalist edge to the ‘permissive’ interpretation placed on it by the Punjab government. Public property was set on fire despite Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s appeal to the contrary and the police became the obvious target apart from Wapda offices. In some cities, the agitators indulged in looting, harming fellow citizens equally stricken by outages.

The power shortage is overwhelming: 70 per cent of the demand is still unmet, which means that the rising urban lower middle class was made to fry in the June heat. In such a situation, the urge for violence was natural but was given a sharp edge by the politics of apportioning blame by our politicians. Islamabad had it very easy with just three or four hours of loadshedding as opposed to Lahore, which suffered over 12 hours of power outage. Some ministers of the federal government have insinuated that in some cities, the ruling PML-N leaders have instigated the mayhem that saw the masses going out and wreaking destruction on public property.

Significantly, in Gujranwala, the mobs did not allow the PML-N leaders to lead the protest march. The reasons could have been many, given the industrialised economy of the city, including the inability of the Punjab government to produce its own electricity and its unwillingness to arrive at a working relationship with the federal government.

The Punjab government blames the federal government’s revengeful bias for what has happened. Power generation has dropped to a paltry 9,400MW against the total demand of 17,400MW in the country. But out of the 9,400MW, 600MW was diverted to the Karachi Electricity Supply Company (KESC). Line losses accounted for another 600MW that didn’t come to Punjab and there was understandable favour shown to the industrial sector where loadshedding was for only six hours.

Everything has been politicised and national crises are used to put each other down instead of uniting in the face of a common calamity. The independent power producers (IPPs), which produce most of the electricity, are not given the money needed by them because the government doesn’t have it. And the gas needed by power generation units is mostly consumed by the CNG sold at the pumps and piped into private homes. If a change in policy is not made, then in the coming months and years, Pakistan will have to keep on bearing Rs50 billion in annual subsidies on gas alone. But the politicians are not doing anything to form a consensus on this.

Under law, Sindh is supposed to get more gas supplied to it because Pakistan is using gas extracted from Sindh after having cleaned Balochistan of its gas and squandering it on households. New finds in Kohat and other areas with militancy problems will probably not be brought on line for a long time because our army expects to fight another war in Afghanistan against what looks like the entire world and aims to use the same terrorists who torment us to defeat another superpower.

It is not a wise policy to arouse the people of Punjab into frenzy simply because you want to win their vote based on hatred for the PPP. The PML-N might regret the decision made by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to aid and abet this ‘revolution’ in his province. Party leader Mian Nawaz Sharif has reinforced the policy of his brother by publicly endorsing it, which means that prominent leaders will take to the streets in the coming days and take part in more vandalism in their own constituencies. Chances are that once the mobs become habituated to speaking through anarchy, even normal times will become tough to face.

Punjab is the biggest province but it is also the most at peace with itself. Line losses and non-payment of bills are the least here. The Punjab government has the right to protest but it must not encourage the mobs to destabilise its urban centres from within.

RIP Fauzia Wahab

June 19th, 2012

Fauzia Wahab’s untimely death at 55 years is a loss not just for her family and the PPP but for everyone who wanted to see a different kind of politics being practised in Pakistan. Here was a middle class woman, defiantly and proudly taking centre stage in an arena that was dominated by rich men. Ms Wahab had none of the privileges of wealth and gender but she compensated for that with a tenacity and loyalty that was unmatched in the PPP. Unlike so many politicians who are gifted their careers in the form of a dynasty or legacy, Ms Wahab was not born into politics. Rather she discovered an aptitude for it as a student leader at the Karachi University. After a period where she worked in television and other ventures, Ms Wahab was brought into the PPP by Benazir Bhutto in the 1990s and ever since then had become a permanent fixture in the party, usually as its public defender.

Ms Wahab’s greatest asset may have been her fearlessness. She was particularly outspoken in her calls for the Hudood Ordinances and blasphemy laws to be repealed. When Salmaan Taseer was murdered, Ms Wahab was one of the very few brave souls to publicly condemn his assassination. After replacing Sherry Rehman as the PPP’s information secretary, Ms Wahab was a constant presence on talk shows, cowering political opponents and getting her party’s point across in a forceful and combative manner.

Occasionally, Ms Wahab could go too far. She jeopardised her job during the Raymond Davis saga when she confidently said that the CIA contractor was protected by diplomatic immunity. This was not something the rest of the country was ready to hear and Ms Wahab at least had the courage to call a spade a spade. But this episode, too, served to show her loyalty to the party. Keeping relations with the US on an even keel by releasing Davis from jail was a priority for the PPP and Ms Wahab was the one willing to stick her neck on the line by publicly speaking out in favour of it. Through it all, Ms Wahab never lost her smile or her cool. She might have been outspoken but Fauzia Wahab was never bitter. For that she deserves the gratitude of the entire nation and not just that of the PPP supporters.

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

A judicial coup?

June 20th, 2012

The Supreme Court, in claiming to represent the will of the people, has removed from power the people’s representative, saying that he stood disqualified from being a member of parliament and hence the office of the prime minister since April 26 — the day he was found guilty of contempt. Support for the decision may not be unanimous mainly because of recent developments, especially where the Honourable Court was dragged into the Arsalan Iftikhar matter and how it chose to — itself — remove it from the allegations citing that Malik Riaz had himself admitted that he had never received any favours from the court. The procedure to remove a prime minister from office is clear: he can be voted out by parliament or the speaker of the National Assembly can send a reference to the Election Commission. So the view, that with this verdict, the apex court has played the role of judiciary, legislature and executive, may find some takers. Also, one must wonder why didn’t the seven-member bench that ruled in the contempt case in April not make matters clear, and that if the intention was to leave the matter to parliament then why wasn’t the speaker’s ruling left unscrutinised. The passage of almost two months since that verdict and Tuesday’s decision may well give ammunition to some people who may claim that the Honourable Court is perhaps trying to deflect attention from the Arsalan Iftikhar case. Furthermore, there will be people, and not entirely from within the PPP, who may consider whether yesterday’s verdict is, in effect, a judicial coup.

Of course, all of this is not to say that Yousaf Raza Gilani or the PPP is without blame. The crisis could have been avoided by simply writing to the Swiss authorities or he could have resigned on April 26. Of course, the other view is that the apex court could have let the matter rest after being told by the government that under the Constitution, the president enjoyed immunity. Of course, it has to be said, with the utmost of deference and respect, that often times, the apex court has not shown the same assertiveness to military dictators that it has shown to elected civilians/governments. Perhaps this is now changing, with the court’s renewed interest in the missing persons’ case and Asghar Khan’s petition. But one would like this interest to be sustained in order to show tangible results.

An ill-considered move

June 20th, 2012

In response to the violence that engulfs Karachi from time to time, the police and politicians have tried to come up with solutions, each more outrageous than the other. We have had curfews, the Rangers being given extraordinary powers, extrajudicial killings and even proposals to send the army in. A perennial favourite has been telling the police to shoot on sight any troublemakers that it comes across. This proposal has now been revived but comes with an added, even more dangerous, twist. The police have told traders that they can shoot anyone who tries to extort money from them in self-defence. This is exactly the kind of solution that seems tailor-made to not be a solution at all but may actually make the problem worse.

For one, the police have not explained if the burden of proof will lie on the traders who shoot first and ask questions later. It is also not clear if the traders can only shoot after their would-be extortionists have threatened them with violence or if merely being approached is cause enough to kill. Some would say that this is an attempt on the part of the police to abdicate its duty. It is the police’s job to tackle and arrest extortionists; this job cannot be left to the traders. The reason behind having a large police force is that ordinary citizens are not equipped to deal with such threats to their livelihood.

The appropriate response here would have been to get more guns off the street, not encourage people to make use of them at every opportunity. True progress takes time, so rather than taking half-baked measures like allowing traders to fight back, the police should be working towards deweaponsing the city. True, this would take a commitment by reluctant politicians who also rely on the power of the gun to exert their influence, but the police could begin by launching a drive against illegal arms. The last thing Karachi needs is more guns. Taking guns out of the hands of extortionists would be a far more viable policy than putting them into the hands of traders.

Power riots

June 20th, 2012

Pakistan’s seemingly endless, sweltering summer reached its nadir as protests against power cuts in Punjab turned exceptionally violent. Demonstrators have started targeting the houses of MNAs and MPAs, as a result of which two people have died in retaliatory firing by the guards posted outside an MNA’s house in Kamalia. There was also at least one fatality in Khanewal, while in Sahiwal and other cities of the province, the protesters decided to go after their public representatives. Some of the methods of protest — setting fire to the offices of electricity companies — were bizarre and counterproductive.

Clearly, the authorities cannot let these protests carry on for much longer. Having demonstrators block major highways and railway tracks cannot be tolerated. Arson and violence, no matter how bad the power crisis is, must not be condoned. However, law-enforcement officials need to learn to deal with the protesters in a just and proportionate manner. In Khanewal, a protester was killed after an MNA’s security detail started firing live bullets. Elsewhere, tear gas was liberally employed by the police. Such actions serve only to further inflame passions and will likely lead to even more people coming out on the streets. The use of water cannons, which may actually have been welcome in this heat, may have been wiser. Also, instead of firing live bullets, the use of rubber bullets as an alternative should be considered.

Ultimately, though, there is little the police can do to subdue the protesters. The only solution is to provide a steady supply of electricity. It may be too late for the government to do anything in this regard this year, but hopefully these protests will stir it into action for coming years. Solving the power crisis needs to be its number one priority. If that means building the Iran gas pipeline and snubbing the US, then so be it. If that means defying the establishment and importing electricity from India, then that is a price the government should be ready to pay for the betterment of the country.

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

What next?

June 21st, 2012

The Supreme Court’s sudden bolt from the blue in disqualifying the prime minister opens up a whole litany of legal and ethical questions. These will be debated in only a few circles. For most people, the removal of Yousaf Raza Gilani means a further state of flux and a renewed condition of uncertainty. Those who are celebrating this turn of events should tell us exactly what they are happy about. How does this crisis and the confusion between institutional roles that it has plunged us into, help the country or its people in any way.

Will electricity run down power lines again just because Gilani is gone? Will the matter of the letter to the Swiss authorities be solved or simply land on the table of the next PM? Will law and order and the situation in Balochistan suddenly improve? The answers to all these questions are not very difficult to answer. What we have is an abiding state of uncertainty, which will in fact act only to weaken us further as a nation. It establishes the point that elected prime ministers can be thrown out at whim. It also means that there is less and less hope of any kind of recovery from a multifaceted crisis, created by poor governance, foreign policy woes and a collapsing economy.

The removal of Mr Gilani solves nothing at all and creates newer problems. This is especially true as new elections are now, at most, less than a year away. There is speculation that they could be held even sooner. In such a scenario, what we needed most of all was to establish principles for the future to avoid any kind of clash between institutions. The new state of instability that has been created will not help us at all. In fact, it takes us further away from the goal of establishing a vibrant democracy and entrenching civilian rule by creating doubts in the minds of people about whether this is possible at all in a country where the experience with democracy has been a faltering one.

Solving Balochistan

June 21st, 2012

Just a day after removing Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani from power, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry is taking on what may be his greatest challenge yet: the might of the military. The chief justice set aside June 20 to hear cases related to the 138 people from Balochistan that the Supreme Court has determined are missing. The obvious implication here is that most, if not all, of these people have been picked by up the paramilitary forces operating in Balochistan or the intelligence agencies. To that end, the CJ has also summoned Obaidullah Khattak, the IG of the Frontier Corps, to appear in court to explain himself. While the CJ’s intentions are good and he is to be lauded for taking up the cause of Balochistan, it is unlikely that even he will be able to hold the military accountable for its actions in the province.

To even begin to have a chance of success, the CJ will have to take the same tack with the military as he did with the civilian leadership. After years of denial, it is unlikely that the FC will suddenly admit to a policy of illegal kidnappings. Thus, after Khattak has issued the standard denial in court, the Supreme Court should go one step further and summon the director-general of the ISI and other intelligence agencies. If even that fails to yield results, then the next option should be to make the chief of army staff appear in court. And, if as is likely, all of them end up stonewalling, then the Supreme Court would be well within its right to hold accountable the military leadership in this particular case.

While the military may be the chief obstacle to any settlement of the Balochistan issue, there are other actors in the province who also need to be tackled. The Supreme Court is devoting a day to Balochistan just a few days after a bus in Quetta was attacked that seemed to be targeting members of the Shia Hazara community. Hundreds of Hazaras have been killed in the last few years and the militant groups thought to be responsible have escaped any action. Along with the cases of the missing people, the chief justice should devote equal attention to the plight of unprotected minorities in Balochistan.

A below-par performance

June 21st, 2012

The recently-concluded five-match One-Day International (ODI) series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka — in which the hosts came out trumps 3-1 after one match was rained off — has brought several problems plaguing the national team to the fore. The series loss against an opponent that Pakistan had dominated in the recent past is a worrying sign. Even more worrying is the fact that two departments, which have long been considered our weak links — batting and fielding — have shown little improvement, despite the appointment of a coach of the calibre of Dav Whatmore.

The stunning batting collapses during the series exposed the extreme lack of form of some of our leading batsmen. This was best exemplified by the dismal show put up by Younus Khan and Mohammad Hafeez, who averaged 3.3 and 11.4 respectively. In addition, the ham-handed fielding proved especially costly during close encounters. The role of the fielding coach needs to be evaluated here although it must be said that however hard a coach works on the players, the responsibility for rectifying their mistakes lies with the players themselves.

The lack of clear thinking on the part of the team management when it came to selecting the playing-eleven also contributed to the series loss as Pakistan were left ruing the decision of dropping their best bowler, Saeed Ajmal, from the final match. However, even more upsetting than this loss, were the reports of friction and groupings within the team. Pakistan possess the talent to recover from this below-par show, but recovering from any infighting within the dressing-room may turn out to be a tall order. As Pakistan take the field for the first Test on June 22 without captain Misbahul Haq, who will be serving a one-match suspension because of the team’s slow over-rate during the final ODI, one hopes that better results will be in the offing in the five-day format where the national side has enjoyed an admirable run of late.

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