Distorted monsoon priorities

August 6th, 2012

The priorities of our decision-makers are odd; indeed, in some cases are almost impossible to understand. Despite suffering the most terrible flood havoc over the past two years, the Government of Sindh has only allocated Rs500 million for disaster management, even though the meteorological office has forecasted a 15 per cent possibility of more monsoon rains, in a province that is still recovering from past disasters. This illogical and potentially dangerous anomaly has been pointed out by the Peoples Accountability Commission on Floods (PACF), which has noted that the most minimal amounts have been allocated for contingency planning and humanitarian relief, despite the National Disaster Management Authority’s (NDMA) warning that nine districts in Sindh — out of a total of 29 in the country — could be prone to rain disaster.

Sindh had been allocated a total development budget of Rs231 billion. The NDMA had recommended that each province spend at least Rs5 billion on disaster management. Sindh’s decision to ignore this advice opens up considerable dangers for its people. The lack of disaster preparedness in the country has been a long-standing problem with various organisations over the past year, since the last floods, pointing out the lack of sufficient readiness to manage disaster in the country. It seems that like the Sindh government, we are far too willing to leave everything to fate, rather than to set things in place in advance so that catastrophe can be averted. The PACF report also notes a failure to repair irrigation systems and banks lining canals, which contributed to the large-scale losses suffered last year. For now, we can only hope this neglect will not lead to still greater ruin in the coming monsoon.

The PACF’s recommendations are sensible. It has suggested a distinct amount be set aside for disaster management. This makes sense in a country like ours, where the forces of nature so often conspire against people. But we also need to convince rulers of the need to do more, to think ahead and to recognise that disaster can strike at any minute. This realisation is still not there, leaving us exposed to more risks against which we must build safeguards.

Skulls and crossbones

August 6th, 2012

In this day and age, it is difficult to conjure up visions of pirates or of ships seized by them. The entire notion, with its imagery involving the Jolly Roger and men with swords and patches over their eyes, seems to belong to a different time, a far older age or to classic novels such as Treasure Island set in those times.

Yet, for the seven Pakistani crew members of the Malaysian vessel, the MV Albedo, who returned to Karachi on August 2 after being taken captive by Somali pirates in November 2010, piracy on the high seas remains a chilling reality. A ransom of $1.1 million was reportedly paid for the crew members, raised mainly by their families and donors.

It is unclear if the Pakistan government contributed any money for the release of the men, with no clear information being given out. This is, perhaps, understandable given the risk of future action by pirates who have become the scourge of the seas around Somalia. Right now, Bangladeshi, Indian, Sri Lankan, Iranian and Iraqi nationals remain trapped on the ship, located a short distance off the Somalian Coast.

Victims of pirates have often described their ordeal of being held by sometimes abusive pirates. It is hard to imagine what it must be like to be held week after week, year after year, in such grim circumstances fraught with constant peril. We can only rejoice with the men, from Karachi and elsewhere in the country — finally reunited with their families, including at least one child born during his father’s long absence. But rather than labelling the Somalis strictly as villains, there is a need to take a broader perspective: piracy in the region was triggered largely by giant trawlers from Europe and the Middle East moving into Somali waters, often illegally, and leaving entire fishing villages destitute as their ‘catch’ vanished. The lawlessness in Somalia adds to the hazards. These issues need to be looked at if the piracy issue is to be solved and others are to be saved from the same fate as those recently rescued.

Bureaucratic misuse

August 6th, 2012

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has sought a report on the alleged misuse of a $61 million World Bank loan allotted to the bureaucracy for human resource development. The loan for ‘capacity building’ was allegedly used by senior bureaucrats for their vacations under the pretext of ‘training’. “This is the one poor country where millions of dollars are spent just on pleasure trips of bureaucrats,” said PAC Chairman Nadeem Afzal Chan. The beneficiaries of this capacity building programme did not feel the need to disclose what they learnt from their training as there was no clause that required an assessment report. Such is the ‘efficiency’ of our bureaucrats who are notorious for red-tapism and being overtly ‘thorough’. But when it comes to hiding their own corruption, they come up with all sorts of excuses. This is a stinging indictment of our bureaucracy.

Pakistan ranks high on the list of corrupt countries but corruption is a malaise that afflicts every institution of this country and is not just limited to politicians. Some would say that the level of corruption in the bureaucracy is far higher than elsewhere in Pakistan. The military is the most powerful institution of Pakistan but the bureaucracy does not lag behind and it has become an attitude rather than a functioning hand. The scourge of red-tapism contributes to the perpetual delays in the implementation of projects. The bureaucracy seems to have become part of the problem rather than serving as a facilitator to speed up development.

It is welcome to see the PAC taking up the issue with the Establishment Division and investigating the abuse of grants. For a smooth functioning system, we need honest and hardworking bureaucrats; not those who think they can get away with plundering the country’s resources without being held accountable. A corrupt and inefficient bureaucracy has caused many problems countrywide. It is time to make the bureaucrats accountable for their misdeeds.

Goodbye, Haqqani network?

August 7th, 2012

‘Diplomatic sources’ in Pakistan say, “The US and Pakistan have reached an understanding on joint operations against the Haqqani network but no final decision has been taken yet”. Outside, ‘leaks’ have appeared in the press indicating that “understanding for joint operations against the Haqqani network was reached at a meeting between senior US and Pakistani military commanders in Islamabad”. More clearly, The Wall Street Journal reported “that plans for joint operations” against the Haqqanis and Maulavi Fazlullah “were discussed in meetings between ISI chief Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam and top CIA, State Department and Pentagon officials in Washington”. Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik used to throw broad hints at Americans for helping the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) assist in carrying out attacks inside Pakistan from the Afghan provinces, Kunar and Nuristan. Now, he says the Afghan government and its secret agency are doing the dastardly deed, not the Americans.

Apparently, our ISI chief General Islam got nowhere with the drones and an understanding on the subject was deferred. He is believed to have offered a proposal which urges the US to identify targets and let Pakistani F16s carry out the attacks. If there is no agreement on the drones, it could derail the whole process, not so much because the Pakistan Army hates the drones but because the Pakistani people and the media have been subjected to a hype about them by the concerned quarters, which may not be speaking with one voice.

Another question must bother the Pakistani side — if not the Americans — because they have more information about Pakistan’s real capacity to control events on its soil. The Haqqanis have a close relationship with al Qaeda and Admiral Michael Mullen, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, accused the Haqqani network of being “one of several extremist organisations serving as proxies of the Government of Pakistan”. The Haqqanis are lodged safely in North Waziristan, which the Pakistan Army says it cannot attack just yet for various reasons, in order to flush them out. But the network has extended itself to other areas, too, including the Kurram tribal agency. The Americans want to take the Haqqanis out because of their ability to kill in large areas of Afghanistan. They operate in the Afghan provinces of Khost, Paktia and Paktika and have an extensive presence in Kabul, Logar, Wardak, Ghazni, Zabul, Kandahar and Kunduz. Their outreach also includes the distant Afghan provinces of Badakhshan and Faryab.

If Pakistan gives up the Haqqani network, it gives up its trump card in the Afghan endgame. But the new line in Pakistan is that the doctrine of strategic depth is no longer the embraced philosophy and a new approach has been adopted. As far as the drones are concerned, the world sees pressure rather than conviction behind the Pakistani stand. Every time the Taliban attack and kill innocent Pakistanis, the clearly enunciated message is ‘get the Americans to stop their drones’. There is yet more lack of clarity. Is Pakistan able to deliver on the commitment it is vaguely making to the Americans through its ‘understanding’ on the Haqqanis? This is the question most analysts in the US will ask.

The question about the capacity of the state to control its territory is being asked in Pakistan but it is diverted to other emotive aspects of the sovereignty of the state vis-à-vis an intrusive strategy of the Americans to tackle terrorists that Pakistan cannot handle. If the Taliban were not obliged to own up to their acts of terrorism to make their presence felt, Pakistan is inclined to link all terror on its soil to America and India, as it is doing with respect to Balochistan. The problem here is that Pakistan is alone in the world in this thinking and its economy is in the process of a meltdown that cannot be halted without international help.

It is time to make a comprehensive policy shift. It is going to be difficult but as long as the international community understands that it is taking place, Pakistan’s chances of surviving remain bright.

All ‘ee’-ed up

August 7th, 2012

The alliteration theme, usually a part of literature lessons, continues in the process of manifesto writing by our leading political parties. The curious obsession with manifesto points beginning with the same letter had begun nearly a decade ago. After about a month of thought and discussion, the PML-N has come up with a manifesto comprising three ‘E’s — energy, education and economy. The manifesto was to have been presented on Independence Day, but was announced in advance by the PML-N party chief, Mian Nawaz Sharif, who will be in Saudi Arabia after August 14.

Certainly, each of the ‘E’s are relevant. We need to tackle each of them. But the PML-N does not appear to have clearly stated quite how it intends to achieve this. The senior Sharif has said that the power crisis will be solved within two years and Pakistan converted into one of the top 10 economies of the world. Similar strides forward are to be made in the education sector. But we have been given few details as to quite how these miraculous changes are to be achieved or what policies will be followed to do so. In other words, like so many before it, the manifesto really comprises a string of promises with little of substance to back them.

In this sense, it is especially ironic that Nawaz Sharif should have spent so much breath lashing out indirectly at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and warning people without mentioning the party or its leader not to be lured by mere words and promises. Given the crisis Pakistan faces, the manifestoes put out by our parties need to spell out in far clearer terms quite how they intend to achieve the said goals and what measures will be taken to bring about the change they hold out as a target. This has not happened for a long time. The art of manifesto writing has been lost and what should be a detailed blueprint for action and policy has really turned into little more than vague pledges, which sound extremely promising on paper, but with no guarantee that they can be converted into reality.

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

Making a mockery of justice

August 8th, 2012

Notions of decency, dignity and morality seem to be vanishing fast from our land of the pure and what we appear to be left with is a twisted sense of honour and justice. This painful reality hit home like never before with the shameful events that took place in Gambat, Sindh, coming into limelight. As reported in this newspaper, a woman and a man were paraded naked in public by the Khairpur police on July 27, on allegations of “intent of adultery”. The case that was registered for the incident recounted that “the police received a tip-off about a man, who had called on two women for adultery”. On reaching his residence, the three were allegedly found to be in a compromising position by the policemen. This triggered the most depraved of responses from the law enforcers with a video clip of the incident revealing that the area’s SHO and his henchmen paraded the man and one of the women naked, while escorting them to the police station as an apparent punishment for their alleged crime.

This event brings into sharp focus the mentality of our law enforcers — especially those stationed in smaller towns and villages — who abuse their authority with extreme abandon and have absolutely no qualms about taking on the roles of judge, jury and executioner. This is not the first time that the law enforcement mechanism, instead of providing justice, only served to make a mockery of it, and unfortunately, this will not be the last time this happens, either. Whatever wrongdoing the accused may have been involved in, subjecting them to such an ordeal — and that, too, by those who did not have the authority to pronounce judgments on their actions — goes beyond the norms of justice and decency. One associated acts of this nature with the kind of vigilante justice that jirgas meted out, but to see law enforcers acting in a similar manner is highly disturbing.

Thankfully, the SHO in question along with his cohorts, have been suspended from duty. Now is the time to set the right precedent. All those involved in this despicable act must be dismissed from the police force and criminally charged. Anything less than this will only serve to encourage those enjoying power to continue to abuse it at will.

Taking up arms

August 8th, 2012

he Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief, Altaf Hussain, never stays out of the headlines for long. This time, at an iftari hosted by the MQM, he called on Karachi’s businessmen to buy whatever sophisticated weapons they could, including A-3s and Kalashnikovs, in order to deal with extortionists. Mr Hussain suggested that even if bribes needed to be paid, these weapons should be acquired as the business community had no other means to deal with the ‘bhatta’ mafia. He also said that the MQM would be willing to provide 100,000 men to help the business community protect itself. He pointed out that traders were already spending huge sums of money paying ‘bhatta’ and may as well hire bodyguards instead.

Mr Hussain’s remarks came in the presence of Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and other senior government officials, who all appeared embarrassed by the contents of his speech. Mr Hussain stated that they had failed to protect people and also asked Mr Malik why he spoke so often of an operation in Lyari when none took place, day after day and week after week. This is not the only attack Mr Malik faced. He was also asked why he was calling the people of Balochistan ‘terrorists’ or ‘anti-national elements’, when in fact, they were victims of the security forces0. His criticism of the government also covered other areas and he stated that while he opposed any division of Sindh there may be no choice left in the future.

Mr Malik made an attempt to defend the government and also lavished the MQM chief with praise, saying it was because of him that the government was still intact. This, however, hardly covered up all that Mr Hussain had said. His remarks obviously come as a sharp rebuke to the government and send a tremor to the uneasy coalition that exists. A major national leader calling on people to take up arms is in some ways highly disquieting and indicates the times of trouble we have run into in Karachi and indeed everywhere else.

Wisconsin shooting

August 8th, 2012

There is a certain ritual that plays itself out whenever someone goes on a senseless, hate-filled shooting spree in the US. Firstly, no one is allowed to talk about the ease with which citizens can buy weaponry in the country and the lack of gun-control laws, since that would amount to ‘politicising’ the tragedy. Then, the word terrorism is rarely used if the perpetrator happens not to be a Muslim. This needs to be reconsidered when discussing the murder of six people at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin by a white supremacist Wade Michael Page. Clearly, Page was inspired by hatred for anyone who differed from him in the slightest manner and he deliberately set out to kill members of a certain group. If this is not terrorism, then the word no longer holds meaning.

Page was known to be a member of a neo-Nazi rock band and a white supremacist group. Such latent racism in itself should be grounds for refusing to let him buy arms and ammunition. The US Congress now needs to get over its fear of angering the gun lobby and pass bans on handguns and machine guns since such guns are rarely used for hunting, self-defence or other legitimate reasons. They exist mainly to be used by those who want to kill a large group of people as quickly as possible. Other countries, including most of Europe that have passed such bans, have seen a significant drop in violence.

That Page was a member of the military for six years is also important to note. There is certainly a possibility that such hate was instilled in him during his service. Scandals like the one where a military chaplain was found to preach Christian power while demonising others have called into question the tolerance and diversity in the US military. Ultimately, though, now that Page is dead we may never know where his pure, unadulterated hate came from or why he particularly chose the Sikh community as a target. Once the time for mourning is over, however, the US will have to take a long hard look at itself.

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

Full circle

August 9th, 2012

We have walked a distance and quickly come right back to the starting point. Just like his predecessor, Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has been issued a contempt of court notice for failing to write the letter to Swiss authorities that would reopen corruption cases against the president of the country. The somewhat more conciliatory attitude adopted by the Court during its last hearing in the matter had vanished on August 8, with the five-member bench hearing the matter saying it saw no reason why the present prime minister should be treated in a manner any different than former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani who, of course, was disqualified over the same NRO issue.

The situation continues to become an increasingly sticky one. The Supreme Court turned down a request from the Attorney General that the next hearing be delayed till September. August 27 has been set as the date when the prime minister will need to offer an answer to the show-cause notice served to him. He does not really have much time. The PPP, meanwhile, has already decided that it will not be writing the letter; its argument has consistently been that the president enjoys immunity under the Constitution and cannot be tried for corruption. The Court differs on this key issue of immunity.

The legal arguments are potentially endless; lawyers and other experts all hold their own views on the matter. But the fact is that this affair has consumed huge amounts of energy and time. It has acted to destabilise the country and left everything in a state of flux. This is, perhaps, all the more so given that talks of technocrats in the government and suggestions of early polls keep coming up. The uncertainty can only add to the problems we face. Most of all, in our still struggling democracy, we need a sense of stability and order as well as some sense of normalcy. The clash we now have right in the open between two key institutions is not at all reassuring. It is also unclear where a solution lies or what can be done to solve another approaching crisis, which threatens to badly shake the existing order.

Olympics blues

August 9th, 2012

As the false hopes brought to life by the thrilling 5-4 comeback win over South Africa were brutally put back to sleep by the Australians, Pakistan hockey confirmed its status as a mere participant in the London Olympics. While the team carried medal hopes for the country — hope, rather than credible aims — Pakistan’s national sport, once again, failed to add to its tally of eight Olympics medals, the last one being the bronze won in 1992. Pakistan’s lead-up to the Games reeked disaster — sacking of the Dutch coach less than five months before the Olympics, seniors punished for exercising their rights of earning an honest living, alarm bells falling on deaf ears after an embarrassing Azlan Shah Cup sojourn, as well as defeats in the pre-London warm-ups.

The Asian Games triumph in 2010 gave the Pakistan Hockey Federation breathing space, sweeping the glaring decline in rank and performance into temporary oblivion. But the show in London, where the team was found lacking in every department, brought reality back into play. The defence was in tatters, the goalkeeper had a tournament to forget, there was no link-up between the midfield and the forwards and, the biggest concern shown by critics, the finishing was non-existent.

The golden days are buried but Pakistan hockey, eighth in Beijing 2008, is not even on a road to recovery. The seniors were brought back into the side to add to the hopes but the results were not achieved. The journey that started with a commendable 1-1 draw against Spain has ended in a disaster. The Greenshirts will take on South Korea today for seventh place, aptly depicting the complete lack of progress in the last four years. It was not just the colour of the turf but the Olympics blues that hit us hard. The gulf in class was loud enough for the officials to take notice. Unless priorities are changed and emphasis is put solely on the improvement of the sport, Rio 2016 has the makings of another disaster.

Eviction orders

August 9th, 2012

Around 500 Kohistani families who had for years — or perhaps, generations — tilled lands in the Mansehra district as tenants, have been asked to leave the Chattarplain where they were based, essentially over what appears to be a series of minor disputes. A jirga comprising the powerful Syed, Gujjar and Swati tribes of the area took the decision following an incident in which firing broke out after Kohistani and Swati youth engaged in a cricket match. Young players on both sides were injured and had to be taken to a hospital in Abbottabad where one injured Kohistani later died. The Swati tribe says the Kohistanis had been warned many times in the past over similar matters but had failed to comply. Apart from tenants, whom the jirga has ordered to depart, those who actually own land in the Swat area will no longer be permitted to bury their dead there.

The whole issue is yet another example of people failing to live harmoniously together in our country. It is also unfortunate that in this time and age, feudal gatherings determine the fate of so many people simply by making a decision that is based more on emotions than logic. The cricket match dispute seems to have triggered the order to leave. Many livelihoods will be affected in times that are already tough. Instead, the matter could have been settled in a less damaging fashion, allowing the Kohistanis to stay on and retain their means of livelihoods.

The incident is an indicator of how much we need to progress. There should surely be resort to the written law of the land when such matters arise. But unfortunately, the rule of law has broken down almost completely — notably in remote areas — and this only contributes to the more powerful people gaining still greater control over the lives of those who have less influence than themselves.

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

Imran Khan and the Taliban

August 10th, 2012

So many aspects of our politics are marred with irony that at times it becomes impossible to see where exactly reality lies. In many ways, threats made to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader, Imran Khan, by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan are strange. Mr Khan had stated that he would lead a march to the tribal areas to protest drone strikes. These strikes are also fiercely opposed by the Taliban themselves. But it appears they do not want Mr Khan to rally against drones as they argue that he is a ‘liberal’ and someone who, in their eyes, is seen as a person without any religious belief.

This obviously does not conform to Mr Khan’s analysis of himself. He has described himself as a practising Muslim and has come under criticism from many in the country for being ‘too soft’ on the Taliban. In a 2008 interview, he astonishingly announced — despite all evidence to the contrary — that the Taliban were not blowing up girls schools, but that, in fact, it was the government which was making false allegations against them. We wonder if Mr Khan still sticks to this point of view or if the threats made against him will bring about any change in his opinions on the Taliban and their agenda in Pakistan.

The Taliban have now denied reports that stated that they will kill Mr Khan if he went to the tribal areas, with their spokesperson declaring that he had been misquoted. What he did, in fact, say was that an attack will be made on any political leader planning to contest elections who visited the tribal areas as polling was part of the ‘secular’ system in his view and did not conform to the Taliban vision of an Islamic state.

With elections now only months away, Mr Khan needs to make it clear which side he stands on. He cannot teeter on the fence any longer. People wish to know whether he opposes or approves of the Taliban and exactly how he intends to deal with them. The Taliban have made their intentions quite clear and declared Mr Khan a foe and it is obvious that they are not willing to tolerate any view other than their own at any cost.

Relative agendas

August 10th, 2012

Things that are taken for granted around the world appear to have become matters of very special significance at home. Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has circulated a memo to all ministries and departments, requesting that favours sought by his relatives not be entertained and any telephone calls re-directed if required to the PM’s Secretariat. Presumably, Mr Ashraf’s own staff has been briefed on how to deal with especially persistent family members.

Perhaps, the prime minister is acting with the very best of intentions; perhaps, he is learning from his predecessor, whose sons and their actions in various matters became a matter of considerable embarrassment to the government. Officials at government and semi-autonomous or even private departments and businesses in Islamabad had become familiar with calls from Musa and Abdul Qadir Gilani. As the case involving Dr Arsalan Iftikhar indicates, the case of the Gilani sons is, perhaps, not a unique one. After all, nepotism of all kind is rampant in our society and has, in fact, been blamed for the downfall of various institutions. However, even so, it is almost bizarre the prime minister should need to circulate direct orders as he has just done. It should surely be taken as a normal course of action on the part of officials at all levels not to entertain demands for privileges based on ties to powerful persons.

The fact that the prime minister felt the need to do so just shows how much our society and political system has rotted. There seem to be fewer and fewer safe places to tread. The reality, too, is, if we look at it squarely in the face, that most of us have no scruples about using ‘contacts’ to get work done. Without these it is difficult, indeed, virtually impossible, to get things to move forward in a system that suffers from paralysis. Let us hope that Mr Ashraf, rather than acting merely to rein in his own family, also takes steps to check the wider cronyism that has crept in everywhere, making it more difficult to run all matters of governance.

Power, misogyny and casteism

August 10th, 2012

On August 8, a shameful incident in the Khangarh sub-district of Muzaffargarh took place. A woman and her sister were stripped naked, tied to a motorcycle rickshaw and paraded around in public. The reason for this vile act of misogyny was that one of the women had asked for a girl’s hand in marriage for her son but the girl’s father felt insulted that she had dared to ‘dishonour’ their biradari (clan/caste). However, the woman’s son and the man’s daughter wanted to marry each other. If the man did not agree with this, he could have said no to the proposal in a civilised manner. Instead, he chose to humiliate and punish the victim and her sister. Not only were the two women paraded naked but they were filmed by the man’s cohorts.

The men left them naked on the road when the residents of the area started to protest. The police were conspicuous by their absence while this was going on. Policemen arrived three hours after residents protested and blocked the National Highway. In the meantime, the man fled his house. Those men, who were arrested, denied any knowledge of the marriage proposal and instead accused the women of trying to rob the house. While all reports indicate otherwise, let us for a moment assume that the women were, indeed, robbers.

Why did the man call his friends instead of calling the police to take action against the so-called ‘robbers’? Parading women naked to ‘punish’ them is not just criminal but a misogynistic act. There are many more men in our society, who are high on patriarchy, feudalism and their powerful connections and caste(s). It is a shame that our law-enforcement agencies turn a blind eye to such criminal acts as they have been co-opted by these powerful elements. In most such cases, criminals go scot-free. This must not be allowed to continue. The man and his gang of thugs must be punished severely. Until such men are not punished for crimes committed, we cannot dream of becoming an egalitarian society.

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

Running away from Pakistan

August 11th, 2012

The recent comments made by Interior Minister Rehman Malik on the migration of Hindu families amidst increasing cases of violence and lack of protection provided to their community by officials in Pakistan have angered our neighbour. When asked about the supposed migration of 60 Hindu families to India from Jacobabad, Malik claimed that India was carrying out a conspiracy against the government by issuing 250 visas to Hindus. As it turned out though, these visas were issued by the Indian High Commission so that the renowned Maharaj from Jacobabad, Santosh Puri, could leave for Yatra (religious pilgrimage) to India with his followers. As a result, a large number of people from Balochistan, Jacobabad and Kashmore had arrived at the border to bid him farewell.

Rehman Malik’s comments, however, would have been equally offensive had it turned out that the Hindus were actually migrating to India. We have made religious minorities feel so insecure in the country that many are left with no option but to reluctantly leave. In Sindh, Hindu girls are abducted, forcibly converted to Islam and then married off to Muslim men. Even the Supreme Court, which intervened in one such conversion case, ended up siding against the Hindu community. In Balochistan, Hindus are leaving their ancestral homes in droves, sometimes moving to India and otherwise going to large urban cities like Karachi and Quetta because of the threats they face. Since the trader Hindu community is relatively prosperous, it has been systemically targeted for kidnapping. The police have shown very little interest in recovering people belonging to a minority group and so families have either had to pay exorbitant amounts in ransom or lose their loved ones.

The interior minister should know that the Indian government and Pakistan’s Hindu community are not involved in any conspiracy. The only conspiracy here is the one hatched by a state that refuses to protect vulnerable communities. With his insensitive and thoughtless remarks, Rehman Malik may just have made things even worse for Hindus here. The suspicion with which Hindus were viewed will only increase now that their loyalty to the country has been questioned, when in fact, we should be focusing our efforts to maintain a more amicable relationship.

Failure at the Olympics

August 11th, 2012

When Rabia Ashiq crossed the finish line almost 17 seconds after the 800m heat winner, it gave Pakistan’s sports authorities a moment to reflect upon reality.

There are no medals for effort — our swimmers, shooter, athletes and the hockey team displayed plenty of that — but the gulf between Pakistan and the competition it took on in London was massive and worrying. A post-mortem may not take place but calls for resignations in the hockey team and the federation were swift following the seventh place finish — an improvement of one place from Beijing 2008. The contingent’s chef-de-mission called for a cut in hockey spending and a greater share for other sports.

Interest and passion notwithstanding, sports, despite its widespread following in Pakistan, needs heavy investment at the grass-roots level. But most of our schools, colleges and universities do not have enough space for classrooms, let alone fields and equipment. With the added burden of academic expectations, the majority does not have time to spend on polishing its sporting skills. The few who do follow their hearts, are often laid low due to the omnipresent financial restrictions.

Great Britain has broken its gold count record in modern-era Olympics and stands third in the table — from a single gold in Atlanta 1996 to 25 in London so far. Their World Class Performance Programme, financed in part by the National Lottery, has played its role with athletes receiving support of up to £55,000 (Rs8 million) per annum, at the development stage, in addition to a personal award that contributes towards living and personal sporting costs. While Pakistani authorities will not be able to match that, an investment and training programme, similar to what the cricket board has, will be the right launching pad. Investing in the athletes is a basic requirement as talent may bag medals at national and regional levels but without adequate nourishing, it simply labels you as mere participants at global events.

Losing the war against polio

August 11th, 2012

Pakistan’s fight against polio was dealt another blow when a six-month-old child became the latest victim of the anti-polio vaccination campaign that till now had mostly plagued the country’s tribal belt. What is most worrying is the fact that this campaign, which was initiated in the tribal agencies by Taliban commanders, now seems to have found its way to other parts of Pakistan too, with this latest case having surfaced in Mardan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P). The total number of polio cases reported this year is now 29, most of them originating from K-P and Fata.

According to the father of the child, an influential religious family of the area, as well as local clerics, pressured residents into not letting vaccination teams immunise their children, propagating that the vaccines contained pig meat and caused infertility. This has so far resulted in 2,373 reported cases of refusals in the district. While many find it convenient to blame the CIA and Dr Shakil Afridi’s activities for this situation, one must remember that negative sentiments regarding polio vaccines existed even before Dr Afridi’s actions came to light. The government’s inability to impose its writ over large areas of the country, its unwillingness to take to task those who are playing with the future of our children, lack of schemes that inform people about the importance of polio vaccines and the Taliban insurgency in the tribal belt are the real reasons why Pakistan is one of the three countries where polio is still endemic.

Added to this is the role, or the lack of it, of our right wing leaders and ulema, many of whom acknowledge that polio vaccines are not un-Islamic. They have no trouble in conjuring up huge crowds in anti-US rallies but have failed to use even a fraction of this influence in convincing people to immunise their children against polio. The ultimate responsibility for this fast unfolding tragedy, however, lies with the government. If we want to eradicate polio, the state needs to extend its writ to the entire country and ensure that every child gets immunised.

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

Operation in North Waziristan

August 12th, 2012

On August 11, army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani chaired the monthly Corps Commanders Conference, which reportedly discussed a forthcoming operation in North Waziristan. It will be a targeted operation, kept as a low intensity conflict, to be gradually scaled up after better target-identification of the militants and after augmenting the troops’ operational preparedness. The Pakistan Air Force will be part of the operation and the “Isaf authorities would be consulted for intelligence sharing”.

If the attack really happens, it will be after a major revision of the Pakistan Army’s stance on the elements located in North Waziristan. One main announced aspect of this stance was that the terrorists attacked there would make their way into regions already pacified by the Pakistan Army and reignite conflict there. Perhaps, for this reason, ‘sources’ reveal that ‘additional troops would be deployed after Eid in Bajaur and Mohmand Agencies’. Presently, a mix of regular troops and FC formations are deployed in these two agencies.

North Waziristan is where the most dangerous elements of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have mixed with the local and foreign outfits fighting against Pakistan, the international presence in Afghanistan, as well as engaging in global jihad against the West. All of them owe allegiance to al Qaeda — and to the Afghan Taliban — whose mid-tier leaders have been killed repeatedly by American drones. Because of the time taken by the Pakistan Army in deciding its inevitable final confrontation with these elements, they have become firmly entrenched, mostly on the strength of the money looted in Pakistan’s settled areas through bank robberies and kidnappings.

It is not going to be an easy operation because of the above-mentioned factors. There are dubious identities among the terrorists ensconced in North Waziristan. There are gangs that stage attacks inside Afghanistan but are considered ‘friendly’ to Pakistan, which obscures Pakistan’s own identity as an ally against terrorism. The Haqqani network is headquartered there, which enjoys an upper hand in half the provinces of Afghanistan. There are other elements like the Uzbek fighters with the blood of innocent people of Swat on their hands, along with the Punjabi Taliban.

The most powerful Taliban warlord in the agency is Hafiz Gul Bahadur of Datta Khel. He is linked to the Afghan Taliban and helps in attacks across the Durand Line. He is opposed to polio vaccination and his orders against vaccination campaigns are obeyed far outside North Waziristan. He is also an influential member of the larger militant local council, called Shura Ittehadul Mujahideen that includes Maulvi Nazir of Wana, the man who first disclosed the damaging facts of the Mumbai attacks to a Chinese English-language daily. Once the Shura also included Baitullah Mehsud and may now include his successor. There is also the Lashkar-e-Khorasan, its main job being to hunt down the tribesmen spying for the CIA’s drone campaign.

The operation, if it takes place, is going to mark a big turning point in the thinking of the Pakistan Army, which has, heretofore, pursued what is called the policy of ‘strategic depth’, mainly targeting India directly, but also targeting anyone who favours Indian presence in Afghanistan. The doctrine was based on a dubious category of ‘friendly terrorists’ in the TTP — which has now become threadbare after the TTP declaration that it is opposed to the Constitution of Pakistan and will seek to overthrow democracy and its fundamental conditions like general elections, condemning both political and religious parties who function under democracy.

While one can argue with the theory that the operation is complicated by the possibility of the terrorists fanning out from North Waziristan threatening adjacent regions where the Pakistan Army has hardly cleaned up the mischief-makers, one can’t help pointing out that it may already be too late for this theory to hold because of the ability of the Taliban to strike in all major cities of Pakistan.

Interest rate cut

August 12th, 2012

Over the last few years, Pakistan’s economy has been hit by the worst of both worlds: low growth and high inflation. Now, however, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has put aside worries about rampant inflation and cut the rate of interest by an astounding 150 basis points to 10.5 per cent. The move is a bold one but results are far from guaranteed. Banks have been reluctant to lend out money to a crippled private sector and, if that trend continues, the interest rate cut will have a negligible stimulus effect. In the current financial year, the net flow of credit to the private sector has been an abysmal Rs18 billion. If that isn’t significantly increased, Pakistan may well continue down its low-growth/high-inflation path.

Another possible danger of the interest rate cut is that, more than the private sector, it will simply lead to further government borrowing from the banks and that is where the inflationary pressure will mainly come from. Not only will this interest rate cut encourage the government’s bad borrowing habits, it will also reduce some of their debt repayments. The problem of government borrowing is so acute that the SBP had to warn the government that excessive further borrowing could be both counterproductive and illegal. The temptation to do so, however, will be ever present, especially in the run-up to elections as the government tries to get its hands on whatever money it can to win over reluctant workers.

As drastic as the interest rate cut seems to be, ultimately the performance of the economy will likely rest on external factors. The international price of oil, which has begun rising again, and the long-overdue payments from the Coalition Support Fund may ultimately be more consequential to the direction of our economy. At home, the government’s inability to provide a regular supply of electricity is surely going to dampen any private sector enthusiasm for borrowing. What is the point of borrowing from banks to expand your business when the government cannot even guarantee electricity for half the day? These are the real problems facing our economy and it remains to be seen whether tinkering with the interest rate will change the situation.

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

Romney makes his pick

August 13th, 2012

The battle lines are now clearly drawn for the US 2012 presidential election campaign. It is clear that a game of hardball is going to be played out with both, the Republican and Democratic sides holding diametrically opposing views. The announcement by Republican candidate Mitt Romney, of his running mate, makes it clear that he intends to go all out after President Barack Obama’s team and its policies. The announcement of Paul Ryan as the vice-presidential candidate puts the most hard line side of the Republican Party on centre stage. Ryan, who has headed the Senate budget committee, is a strong opponent of the Medicare and Medicaid programmes, reforms which formed a central part of Obama’s domestic policies in the last electoral battle. Ryan has made it clear that he opposes the changes and wishes to see less government spending on providing medical aid to those who do not have insurance. This would, of course, leave some of the poorest Americans out in the cold. Obama has already described the strategies Ryan advocates as “social Darwinism” leaving only the toughest and most able to survive. This, of course, in the present context means the rich or the relatively rich.

The picture then is now spread out before us. As was largely the case in 2008, domestic policies and the question of the state’s role in caring for those most in need will form a central point of the 2012 campaign as well. While the healthcare issue had always seemed likely to form a part of the campaign, with Ryan’s nomination, it now stands at the foreground of the contest.

By making the long-awaited announcement regarding his running mate, Romney has signalled that he has no intention of holding back. Obama will be equally determined to defend the changes he has introduced, which according to him, were aimed at assisting those Americans who have no voice. He will now need to see if these persons, and others who share his views, can lend him the same kind of support they offered four years ago and keep a Democrat in the White House for another term.

Policing TV channels

August 13th, 2012

Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed of the Supreme Court, who has recently joined the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf, has got together with an ex-Ameer of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, and complained to the Supreme Court about obscenity on TV channels. This has caused Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to deliver an instant obiter dictum: “TV channels are spreading vulgarity and Pemra is doing nothing to prevent it”.

Pemra, of course, is the electronic media regulatory authority, whose acting chief was on hand and suffered the rebuke patiently, requesting the Court to give him a month in which to report the quality and quantum of vulgarity on TV channels. He apparently wanted to do some research, maybe also look into an agreed definition of vulgarity. But the Court denied him this and instead ruled that it is “not yet forming a commission”, but only granting a week’s time to Pemra.

The Chief Justice said he had watched some offensive programmes and added that “one finds it difficult to watch them with family”. To strengthen his argument, he enlisted the month of Ramazan, saying that “such programmes should be avoided during iftar”.

Pemra was asked to rate the programmes so that people may decide beforehand whether to watch the programmes or not. This is where the rub is: what is vulgar and who is saying whether something is or not vulgar? (The biggest decider is the right to switch the relevision off.) The Pemra acting boss fell back on the old routine saying: “Indian channels were banned in Pakistan to restrain broadcast of any improper programmes and Pakistani channels will now be screened for any such programmes”. Then he dropped a bombshell: laws related to regularity of the programmes were not well-defined and that vulgarity was relative: “Something which is vulgar to the complainants might not be vulgar to you and me”.

The Chief Justice then asked Pemra to show the Court the record of the offending programmes including “TV shows which were aired solely for the purpose of maligning the judiciary”. On this, the attorney general added his own bit: “the TV shows also run parodies of politicians and leaders”. Justice Chaudhry’s rejoinder was interesting: “such programmes are in good humour; such programmes are enjoyed”.

We are revisiting the situation that arose in September 2003 after a survey revealed that religious parties had different levels of reservations about ‘vulgarity’. One leader accused the government of double standards because Western fahashi (obscenity) was acceptable while Indian fahashi was not. After Indian movies were banned on the cables, all big cities of Pakistan switched to satellite TV and bought dish antennae. Those who watch movies will also go on record against entertainment. People in our part of the world have a problem with entertainment because religion gets involved. No one accepts the argument that entertainment works as a safety valve that lets off the steam built up by ideological oppression.

The Taliban began by blowing up cinemas and video shops before they latched onto girls’ schools as what they perceived as obscenity. Will the Court now offer us a mithridatic cure of the cruelty of the Taliban? The Taliban go further than that: they attack culture as a source of entertainment.

Swat as a microcosm of their rule showed us what we can do when looking critically at vulgarity. Already some cable unions are blocking the BBC and some other foreign channels airing programmes critical of Pakistan’s policies. Now they might chop off the bough they are perched on by cutting entertainment that Justice (retd) Wajihuddin and Qazi Hussain Ahmad think is vulgar.

Will the Court take a hardline view and gag the TV channels, shutting out some tentative criticism of ‘judicial activism’ within a generally intensely pro-judiciary community of TV anchors? Such action taken in the past had failed because entertainment was then driven underground with lethal effect.

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

On this Independence Day

August 14th, 2012

A peaceful demonstration named ‘Stop Persecution of Religious Minorities in Pakistan’ took place at the Lahore Press Club in connection with Minority Day on August 11, to express citizens’ concern over the growing religious discrimination, hatred and violence and to declare that it was against the vision of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. The demonstrators condemned the trend of hate, discrimination and violence threatening the lives, property, business, worship places, jobs and education of the Hindus, Ahmadis, Christians and even Muslims belonging to the Shia community. They pointed to the closure of Ahmadi places of worship and the demolition of their graves, the demolition of Gosha-e-Aman in Lahore, the attack on a church in Karachi, the abduction and forced conversion of Hindus and girls belonging to religious minorities and the constant killing of members of the Shia and Ahmadi communities.

On August 10, 2012, Interior Minister Rehman Malik came on TV and said Pakistani Hindus were leaving Pakistan to settle in India and that he would have none of it. After that, the police stopped nearly 250 Hindus from crossing over to India at the Lahore railway station and at the Wagah Border. This happened because of Mr Malik’s police background and a total lack of sympathy for what was happening to Hindus in the country. There was a wicked satisfaction drawn from keeping them back in the hell that Pakistan has become for them. There was a total lack of knowledge of Indian policy in the matter. The Hindus going to India were asked to furnish a clearance letter from Mr Malik’s ministry. This was the ultimate harassment for which the minister should be questioned by the Supreme Court through a suo-motu summon.

The media was told that Hindu pilgrims going for yatra of holy places in India were stopped in the wake of a rumour that they were migrating due to fears for their lives and property in Pakistan. The stranded Hindus in Lahore swore that they loved Pakistan — a total lie after the way they have been savaged for long years — and would return to their beloved land. Any humane person would go down on his knees and beg India to keep these luckless Hindus to prevent them from further persecution in Pakistan.

Mr Malik termed the ‘migration’ of Hindus from Jacobabad a conspiracy against Pakistan. What the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said was different. It anticipated that Pakistan was probably trying through ‘forced migration’ to get rid of Hindu communities in Sindh and Balochistan, where they are being targeted through kidnappings and forced marriages. Its statement said: ‘Religious minorities migrating from Sindh and Balochistan is a reflection of the state’s failure to save these citizens from violence, discrimination and disgusting excesses such as forced conversion of young women’.

Pakistan’s economy continues to be in the doldrums. The state of Pakistan is virtually without a writ on most of its territory but it insists that this has not happened because of the wrong policies followed by those who dominate governance in Islamabad. It accuses the world outside — which is potentially the only source of an economic bailout if ever it comes — of killing people in Pakistan. Foreign intelligence agencies are indiscriminately named without a shred of evidence while ‘friendly’ terrorists, who attack inside Afghanistan say they will impose sharia in Pakistan because democracy is against Islam. Politicians, blind to where the state is going, communicate with one another through defamations.

This Independence Day can only be celebrated with extreme sorrow and a sincere effort to highlight the flaws that Pakistan has succumbed to. It defies the world through self-righteous isolationism. It has recently taken a step back from its self-destructive doctrine of strategic depth after it became convinced that its current policy might push the world into declaring it a rogue state. Pakistan has a long way to go — not forwards but backwards — in retracing its steps to the way it was when it was created by the Quaid-e-Azam and his worthy companions.

Giving access to Baradar

August 14th, 2012

Entering peace negotiations with the Taliban is a tactic that is fraught with risk. Previous experience with the Pakistani Taliban has shown us that the militants use these talks as a way of buying time to regroup. Once they have done so, they feel free to break the terms of any agreement with impunity. However, with the US having to deal with political considerations at home and the possibility of defeat in Afghanistan and with President Hamid Karzai recognising how precarious his hold on power is, both the US and Afghanistan have decided that negotiating with the Taliban is the only way to go. Given this situation, Pakistan has little choice but to join in the talks too. Therefore, the move by Pakistan to allow Afghan officials to meet with captured Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is a wise move.

Baradar’s capture in February 2010 was always a sticking point with Afghanistan. That was when the Karzai government decided it would have to pursue negotiations with the Taliban. Almost simultaneously, Pakistan started arresting Taliban leaders that it had previously denied were in the country. From the point of view of the Afghans, Pakistan was seen as stymieing any potential peace talks by taking one side out of the equation. The thinking in Pakistan seems to have been that since we might not be a party to the negotiations, it would be better to start taking action against the Afghan Taliban. Both sides now seem to be on the same page.

Since — in the two years that we have been holding him — we have probably got all the information Baradar possessed, giving Afghan officials access to him is mostly a symbolic move. But even that marks progress in the fraught relationship with Afghanistan. The next potential stumbling block may be if the Afghans insist that releasing Baradar is essential to the health of the peace process. In that case, Pakistan should demand that Baradar return to Afghanistan and never be allowed on our soil again. The peace talks may end up giving the Taliban a small victory but that is a price we may have to pay for friendly relations with our neighbour.

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

Going after the militant?

August 15th, 2012

The words from General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani in his Independence Day message are encouraging. He has indicated Pakistan is determined to go after militants with all the force it can muster and to end insurgency in the country. Till now there has, of course, been much debate over how fully the Pakistan military is committed to dealing with the Taliban and other forces based primarily in the tribal areas. The nexus with them for strategic purposes has existed for a long time. It would be a huge positive change if this relationship was ended.

General Kayani’s strong words indicate this will indeed happen. Following improved relations with Washington, there have been consistent rumours that a huge operation is to be conducted in North Waziristan and other areas.

The US has, of course, long demanded that militant strongholds in these areas be squashed. Till now, Pakistan has been somewhat reluctant, but as Kayani has correctly pointed out, no country can afford to allow a parallel force to exist within its borders even if it is hard for the army to take on its own people.

What we need to do now is to also change mindsets. The ambiguity about the militants, tied in to anti-US feeling needs to be ended. There is no reason why a choice needs to be made between extremists and the West. Both can be criticised for their faults, and a course which favours all the people of Pakistan chalked out.

This is something we need to work on ahead of any military operation. Such a drive can succeed only if people are behind it and confident that this time the Pakistan army means business. There have been too many doubts about this in the past.

If militancy can truly be wiped out, this would genuinely brighten the future of our country. The generations to come deserve this. We have suffered greatly as a result of the Taliban threat. It is time to eliminate it and we must hope that we can succeed in achieving this as swiftly as possible even though it will mean more fighting in certain areas of the country.

Bridging the education gap

August 15th, 2012

Every year, around this time, nervous students wait for a piece of paper that they have been conditioned to believe will define the rest of their lives — their ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level results. Over the last decade, there has been a steady rise in the quality of the results, although some believe that grade inflation may have played a part in that. Ambitious parents, wanting the best for their kids, have poured money and even more effort to ensure that their grades guarantee them a spot in the best colleges. But we have become so caught up in the rat race that we rarely consider whether these exams are truly as valuable as we think they are — both for students and the education system at large.

An estimated 180,000 children took their ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level exams this year, a number that seems quite considerable until you realise that the majority of Pakistan’s population is under 25 years of age. Still, there is clearly a demand for these and other similar foreign exams. Basically, just about anyone who can afford to do so decides to take their children out of the Matric and Inter system, in favour of foreign systems that have greater credibility in the West. Our local system of education has been so thoroughly discredited that such alternatives are being considered by more people every year.

Essentially, Pakistan has ended up with a dual system, one for the elite and one for the rest of the country; this creates a kind of educational apartheid in the country. The solution isn’t, as some have outlandishly suggested, to immediately impose one system on the entire country, as that would unfairly hurt those who give foreign exams. Having a uniform educational system should be a goal we aspire to work towards, not by demonising those who sit foreign exams but by matching our local system to the same quality. The aim should be to provide every Pakistani child the opportunity to excel by having a level playing field. We may not be able to achieve that in the near future but we certainly shouldn’t give up on the idea.

Hidden treasures

August 15th, 2012

How many treasures lie hidden below our soil and what are we missing out on by failing to bring them before the world? The truth is we really do not know. Very little effort has been made to discover our own heritage, even though it could greatly enrich the lives of our people and help attract tourists to our country that would benefit hugely from the revenue that such tourism could bring.

Striking new discoveries have been made at the Gandhara civilisation site of Amluk-Dara in Swat, which dates back to the third century and had first been uncovered by British-Hungarian explorer Sir Aurel Stein in 1926, who found a well-preserved stupa located at the site. Now, an entire complex lying around the stupa has been uncovered jointly by an Italian archaeological mission visiting Pakistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Directorate of Archaeology and Museums. The site lies two kilometres from the main road, which travels from Barikot to Buner, protected by the Elum mountain. The site had been studied again in the 1960s and 1970s by foreign experts but no attempt was made locally since then to discover what lay there.

This complacency is a reflection of a much broader attitude. We make no effort to inculcate pride in our ancient heritage through school curricula, the media or other means. The warped ideological notions we have adopted, most markedly through the 1980s, mean we would, perhaps, like to forget that such a past exists. This is unforgivable. We must take pride in our history with all its various dimensions. A nation unable or unwilling to embrace its past is a lost one; we have lost a great deal already by doing away with huge chunks of our history and failing to embrace our heritage. Much of what lay in places like Swat has been deliberately destroyed. We must do what we can to hold on to what remains and raise awareness of this towards minds altered by years of propagandist teaching.

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