In the public interest

In thrall to its neoliberal ideology and in accordance with the dictates of the IMF, the government has been swiftly removing power subsidies to the point where electricity, fuel and gas are becoming unaffordable luxuries for the middle and lower classes. The PPP had tried something similar but faced an insurmountable obstacle in the form of the Iftikhar Chaudhry Supreme Court. The current bench has been more tolerant of the government’s right to make policy but it too now seems determined to call a halt to the regular price increases. It reminded the government of its duty to provide services for the public good and pointed out how other countries like India had withstood pressure from the IMF to keep its subsidies in place. The government’s plea that it cannot afford subsidies and will have to slash the education budget to retain them is a spurious argument. There are plenty of other cuts that can be made, starting with all the goodies handed out to corporations in the form of tax holidays and incentives. Or the government could just do its job and start expanding one of the smallest tax bases in the world. We also have one of the lowest tax rates in the world and it may be time to consider increasing the burden on the wealthy.

The argument made in favour of removing the subsidies is that it is only fair that consumers pay market price for the power they consume. But those holding this point of view have a fundamentally flawed vision of what the government’s job is. It is there to provide or at least subsidise goods and services that are in the public interest. And it is not like the governments past and present have been already doing their job of providing electricity at subsidised rates. Apart from the regular loadshedding, we have now found out that IESCO sent consumers inflated bills. It was only protests from traders and others that led the government to admit its mistake and promise to rectify it. This is not an isolated problem either. Officials use everything from speedy power meters to erroneous charges on bills to fleece the consumer. The excuses given for the over-billing are pathetic, including retroactively applied rises in the power tariff, additional use of electricity and scrapping of different slabs to set rates for electricity users. None of these are justified under the law. What is needed here is not such mistakes but a vision and a commitment that aim to mitigate the misery inflicted on the people.

Incheon success

It has mostly been bad news for Pakistan in the South Korean city of Incheon since the 17th Asian Games rolled into action on September 19. Hit by a major medal drought, Pakistan has managed only one medal – a bronze by unheralded wushu player Maratab Ali – during the first week of the continental spectacle. That leaves Pakistan – once regarded as a sporting powerhouse in the region – trailing behind much smaller nations like Macau and Kuwait on the medals table. However, a couple of heartening results in hockey and cricket should turn the tide for the Pakistanis in Incheon. A morale-boosting 2-1 triumph against old foes India in a group match on Thursday has catapulted Pakistan into the semi-finals of the hockey event. Though Pakistan is the defending Asian Games hockey champion, its indifferent form in recent times raised a big question mark over the country’s chances of retaining the gold in South Korea.

Pakistan failed to qualify for Hockey World Cup 2014 and missed this summer’s Commonwealth Games because of a bitter struggle within the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA). Many feared that the Green-shirts might succumb tamely in the Asiad but a forceful showing against India has helped Pakistan emerge as strong contenders for the coveted title. A title-winning triumph will not only help Pakistan regain it lost status as an Asian giant, it will also give it a direct spot in Olympic Games 2016 to be held in Rio de Janeiro. Perhaps more importantly, an Asian Games gold medal will give Pakistan hockey a new lease of life and lift it from its abyss of diffidence and failure. But to do that, Pakistan’s hockey players will need to raise their game and win the next two matches, one of them likely to be played against title favourite South Korea, also the hosts. While Pakistan’s men have given the nation some reason to cheer by taming India, our women continue to sparkle on the cricket field in Incheon. They have so far ridden roughshod over rivals and are now in the final of the Asian Games cricket event. One more win will help them retain the crown and give Pakistan a much-needed gold medal, something it desperately needs to end the extravaganza with a respectable position on the medals’ table.

Published in The News, Friday, September 26, 2014

At the UN

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s appearance at the UN General Assembly was an opportunity for the leader of the country to shake off the unfortunate image the world has of Pakistan and present a positive case. In that, he was successful in parts, particularly when starting with the floods that have devastated Punjab and Azad Kashmir, using them as a demonstration of the damage that will be caused by global warming. He did not ask only for sympathy and pity. Instead, he beseeched the world to take urgent action on climate change. His speech came just hours before nearly 400,000 people marched in New York City demanding the world cut its carbon emissions. Pakistan is one of those countries that will be most affected by global warming unless the entire world – especially the largest polluters like the US, China and India – does not take immediate action. Similarly, Nawaz mentioned sustainable energy as the solution to our power crisis and once again asked for investment rather than aid.

This was a low-key visit by Nawaz to the UN, partly because ties with India are strained so the usual meeting between the two countries on the sidelines of the General Assembly session did not happen. We once again reiterated our stance on Kashmir as a disputed territory which has the right to determine its own future through a plebiscite. This is something the UN itself had called for but now ignores. It is telling that no other country even mentioned Kashmir, demonstrating the power India now holds. That Nawaz and Modi, or even their foreign secretaries, do not plan to meet shows just how low relations have fallen since the brief moment of misplaced hope when Nawaz attended the new prime minister’s swearing-in, quickly followed by an exchange of letters. On the military operation in North Waziristan, Nawaz promised victory but was short on details, although he did correctly mention that success needs Afghanistan to take action against militants operating from there. The operation has been going on for many months now and details about our progress are scarce. In fact, the entirety of Nawaz’s speech was short on specifics. Apart from the scarcity of details on the operation, Nawaz had little to offer on improving relations with both India and Afghanistan. His was a rote speech that will be quickly forgotten and not lead to any diplomatic breakthroughs.

Dangerous job

There may be no more dangerous occupation in Karachi than being a policeman. Already this year more than a hundred cops have lost their lives in target killings, mainly for their role in cleansing the city and its outskirts of the growing militant threat. The latest target was SSP Farooq Awan, who narrowly escaped being killed by IEDs left in a car along the route he took to get home. Responsibility for the attack has been claimed by Jundullah, a militant group close to Al-Qaeda which has previously taken credit for many killings in Karachi. The attack is reminiscent of the one which took the life of Chaudhry Aslam – another policeman responsible for capturing many militants – earlier this year. The TTP and its affiliates have been rapidly gaining strength in the city and taking advantage of the routine political violence to embed themselves. Many of the targeted killings which have been blamed on the political parties of the cities have actually been the handiwork of militants. On top of that, they have asserted themselves in parts of Karachi and are collecting extortion payments, the way criminal gangs with political patronage have always done. The militant threat in Karachi is real and becomes as much, if not more, of a problem than the violent gangs that ruled the city.

When the Rangers operation was launched last year, it had the goal of eliminating militant groups as well as going after the traditional sources of violence. Police action was launched in areas like Mangophir, where the militants have gone from strength to strength. They especially named four policemen, involved in operations against them, to be marked for death. Of those Chaudhry Aslam and Shafiq Tanoli have already been killed while Farooq Awan and Raja Umar Khitab, the head of the Crime Investigation Department, have been targeted. The TTP and its allies seem to have decided to go after sensitive targets like army headquarters and naval bases and killing off individuals in security posts who go after them. The assassination attempt on Awan indicates that the attackers had intelligence about which route he would take since they had IEDs in place. This, like the attack on the naval target earlier this month, hints at possible inside involvement. Two people died in the attack, including the delivery man for a fast food restaurant, who had the bad luck to be traversing the same route as Awan. For their sakes we need to capture those responsible not just for carrying out the attack but for so meticulously planning it.

Published in The News, Saturday, September 27, 2014

__________________
"I am still learning."

‘Naya’ politics

The PTI is trying to have it both ways. In public Imran Khan remains as defiant as ever, claiming to be wedded to his principles, one of which is that every member of the National Assembly in his party will resign from their seat. But the MNAs themselves seem less than enthusiastic about the prospect of losing their seats and the power and patronage they bring. Just as dissident PTI president Javed Hashmi had predicted, not a single PTI MNA is yet to confirm his or her resignation. Imran is trying to deflect the issue by demanding that National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq meet all his MNAs collectively to confirm their resignations, despite the fact that the law calls for them to affirm their desire to resign individually to show that they are not being coerced into doing so. The fact is that coercion is at play. Imran made the vow weeks ago that his MNAs would resign at a time when he would make a boastful new promise every day. Just as his civil disobedience campaign fizzled out into nothingness, Imran’s MNAs thought this promise would amount to nothing either.

They first skipped the joint session of parliament, where the speaker could have called them to his chambers to confirm their resignations. Shah Mehmood Qureshi showed up to deliver a fiery speech and then staged a walk-out even though the speaker was summoning him. That the PTI MNAs are so hesitant to resign shows that they themselves do not believe in what they are doing and have chosen to be sometimes willing and sometimes unwilling pawns in a game of political deceit. If they were more confident they would have no problem in resigning and waiting for the new elections they claim are around the corner. We should have known this was a transparent ploy from the start, when the PTI refused to resign from its seats – and give up power – in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Imran claimed that the province was magically exempt from the rigging that afflicted the rest of the country. Now he is pretending that he will expel all MNAs who refuse to resign their seats. But since he is not even pressing them to meet with the speaker and confirm their resignations we know that this promise is as empty as every other promise Imran has made. The PTI chief himself refuses to go to the National Assembly and give up his own seat. This is just another sign that his old politics of ‘Naya’ Pakistan is unashamedly devoid of character and principles.

The walls

Despite many convictions for blasphemy, not a single death sentence has been carried out in Pakistan. Is it because others get to them before the state does? Everyone, from inflamed mobs to guards meant to protect prisoners, can inflict punishment on the accused. Lawyers are too scared to defend the accused and judges too fearful of releasing them, resulting in legal proceedings that are little more than a formality. The latest victim met their fate in Adiala Jail. A policeman at the jail critically wounded a 70-year-old British national, Asghar Ali, and killed his cellmate, Christian pastor Zafar Bhatti, after he opened fire on them. Bhatti, an under-trial prisoner, had been accused of blasphemy on the basis of SMS messages allegedly sent from his phone. He had complained of receiving death threats from within the jail, a matter ignored by authorities. Apart from his advanced age, Asghar is reported to have a history of mental issues – paranoid schizophrenia to be exact.

The details of precisely what happened at Adiala Jail are a little hazy but it makes no difference to the real nature of the incident. Not for the first time has a terrible crime been committed within the protective walls of a prison and it is now not hard to imagine the perpetrator being held up as a hero. We have become a warped society where the greatest danger to those accused of blasphemy may be from those who are meant to protect them. Such murders add to the hatred and intolerance that thrive in an environment where more and more blasphemy cases are registered ever year and the authorities and religious scholars seem unable or unwilling to act. That the state has a duty to provide safety should be obvious. In fact it needs to go much further. To deter against false accusations of blasphemy, the laws for reporting false cases should provide for punishments as strict as those for blasphemy. No one should be allowed to use religion to prevail in a financial or property dispute since that too is sacrilegious. Reform is urgently needed in our prisons too where militants have the run of the place and are regularly broken out of jail thanks to inside help while those accused of blasphemy have to cower in fear. Prison is a frightful enough place without having to be worried that you will be killed off by guards at any time.

Women in green

Four years after creating history by clinching the inaugural Asian Games women’s cricket title in China, our girls have once again come to the rescue of the country’s under-achieving Asian Games contingent. In the South Korean city of Incheon on Friday, Pakistan’s women cricketers displayed nerves of steel in a rain-hit but pulsating final against Bangladesh to retain their Asiad crown. In the process, they’ve given Pakistan its first gold medal of the 17th Asian Games. Sport is one of the rare fields in which Pakistan has made its presence felt at the international level over the years. For decades, laurels were earned for Pakistan by its men in games like hockey, cricket, squash and snooker. In what is largely a chauvinistic and patriarchal society, our sportswomen remained under-supported and thus failed to attain glory in the international arena.

But all that was before we started investing in our women cricketers. Back in the nineties, a tiny minority of women played the sport in this country. They lacked much support and were forced to raise their own funds. They were prone to infighting and power struggles and despite all-out efforts never managed to find a place on the world cricket map. But a few positive changes and a little official patronage have changed the face of women’s cricket in Pakistan within a short span. Our team may still lag far behind countries like Australia, England and even India but achievements like back-to-back Asian Games titles are no mean feat. Our women cricketers have proved that if we, as a nation, show even a little faith in their abilities they can achieve wonders. Similar achievements can be targeted in other sports like hockey and squash in which the only thing our women lack is support. On paper, our sports authorities do invest in them by holding camps and arranging foreign tours for various women’s teams. But even such half measures are few and far between. What our sportswomen need is full-fledged and long-term backing so that they can come at par with other female athletes of the region. The bigger picture for sportswomen in Pakistan remains a bleak one but that shouldn’t stop us from celebrating what seemed impossible once upon a time. At a time when our male cricketers are going through a lean patch, the girls in green have given us a major reason to rejoice.

Published in The News, Sunday, September 28, 2014

__________________
"I am still learning."

Party goes to Lahore

The nationalisation of Imran Khan’s Islamabad protest continued apace as another massive crowd greeted him in Lahore. With Karachi already behind him and Mianwali and Multan next, Imran resembles nothing more than an ageing singer belting out the same old tunes for appreciative crowds in different spots on his tour. The fact is that Imran has little new to say that hasn’t already been repeated dozens of times over the last six weeks. His speech in Lahore followed the same pattern of idealising the Scandinavian countries as the perfect democracies, contrasting them with our own rotten state, launching into an indictment against Nawaz Sharif’s alleged corruption and rigging before ending it by reiterating his call for ‘civil disobedience’. The problem with this stump speech is that Imran does not come off as genuine. He had promised to break down the boundaries of the governor houses when he came into power but he is already in power in Khyber Pakthunkhwa and has done no such thing. He doesn’t want citizens to fulfil their lawful duty and pay their bills even as minions like Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Sheikh Rashid continue to do so. Imran wants people to follow his words rather than his actions and at some point the disconnect between the two will become overwhelming.

Imran is still calling for Nawaz’s resignation and even goading him into staying a little longer so that the prime minister can see how much support the PTI chief has all over the country. But this is surely a bluff and even Imran must know that he has boxed himself into a corner. The purpose of the Lahore jalsa seemed to be to show the government that it can raise a large crowd even in its home city. That was also the tactic behind Imran’s massive rallies in Lahore and Karachi before the elections but it was unable to seriously dent the strength of the PML-N and MQM. Street power is effective in bringing attention to your cause but it is not reliable as an indicator of electoral performance. The Lahore rally may have annoyed the Sharifs but it wouldn’t have spooked them into thinking they are doomed. Imran can continue travelling the country and enjoying the passion of his sizeable crowds but rallies and rehashed speeches are no substitute for playing the role of an effective opposition in the National Assembly and a competent government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. On both counts, Imran and his party have been conspicuous failures.

The Modi mix

The turnaround in fortunes for Narendra Modi has been stunning. A year ago he couldn’t even get a visa to enter the US; now he was welcomed by cheering expatriates at Madison Square Garden and feted by international leaders at the UN. No matter how much he may come off as respectable now, the old Modi, if he becomes old, will be forgotten with difficulty. For that is the Modi widely held to blame for intensifying the riots against Muslims in Gujarat. His noxious form of Hindu chauvinism shone through in his speech at the UN General Assembly where he dismissed claims of Kashmiri self-determination, calling it an unimportant issue which should be solved bilaterally by India and Pakistan. This, unfortunately, has become the de facto position of powerful UN countries trying to forge closer ties with India despite the existence of resolutions calling for a referendum in Kashmir. Even on the matter of talks with Pakistan, Modi was far from welcoming. He said that talks could only be held if they did not occur under the shadow of terrorism. Presumably he was referring to the Mumbai attacks, which took place six years ago and after which fruitful talks have been held. The fact is that it is Pakistan, not India, which suffers under terrorism daily and still gets blamed for sheltering outlawed groups.

The world, however, will pay more attention to Modi the economic neoliberal. He devoted much of his speech to matters economic and, in a meeting with US President Barack Obama, vowed to increase trade by a factor of five over the next 10 years. Modi’s rule has been a curious mix of populism and neoliberalism. This is why he gave his speech in Hindi, an option meant to show his audience back home that he would not kowtow before the world and assert pride in his country. He followed that with demands for the reform of the Security Council, with the obvious subtext being that India should be a part of it. At the same time, he was more conciliatory in talking about global trade and the role India should be playing in it. Modi may have been made to feel welcome in the US and his speeches were lauded by most but the shadow of Gujarat will always hang over him. A court in New York has been given a petition to answer for his actions in the attempted genocide in Gujarat. Modi may have tried to whitewash himself but the stain will not go away.

Published in The News, Monday, September 29, 2014

__________________
"I am still learning."

Attack on IDPs

There may be no group in the country more unfortunate than the IDPs. Through no fault of their own they first had to live through TTP rule in the tribal areas, with all the violence and repression that comes with it. Then they were displaced from their homes and into makeshift camps for an indefinite period. Even here, amid the squalor and hopelessness, they cannot feel safe. Just a few days after the TTP had warned the IDPs to evacuate the camps, an IED in a car at a camp in Hangu killed eight people and injured 12 others. This came soon after a firing incident at the same camp. So far no group has taken responsibility for the attack but it doesn’t require a large leap of logic to pin the blame on the TTP or other militants of the same ilk. Both the tactics and the target would suggest their handiwork. The state is at fault for not paying proper heed to the threats given. It has not only failed at providing the basic amenities the IDPs need – to the point where many have occupied schools rather than live in camps – but cannot even guarantee their lives. These people were told they had to leave their homes to escape danger. They now find themselves no more secure.

What is truly shocking is that the IDPs who were killed have been living in the camp since 2008, when the state launched an operation in Orakzai Agency. This hardly fills us with hope that the current operation, far more wide-ranging than previous ones, will be over anytime soon. This means that the IDPs, already believed to number near one million, may remain displaced for the foreseeable future. The state is not helping matters by only giving daily body counts, meaningless in themselves, without being able to give a timetable for when the IDPs may be able to return home. Already they know that their homes have likely been destroyed and, if past experience is anything to go by, they may receive little to no government help in rebuilding their lives. Those who should be the number one priority of the state have become little more than an afterthought, left as sitting ducks for the TTP. The blast in Hangu should be a wake-up call rather than the first of many such attacks.

Fire and failure

The fire that broke out in a Lahore office of PTCL is symptomatic of our crumbling infrastructure. One short circuit led to 45,000 phone lines and 25,000 internet connections going down for much of Monday. The fire took hours to put out and, in the meantime, PTCL had no way of connecting the affected lines to another exchange, saying it would take a minimum of 10 hours to do so. Outrageously, the emergency helpline and Edhi contacts were also down. One can only hazard a guess as to how many people were left helpless without needed ambulances and medical attention. Basic services like telephone and internet are far too important to our daily lives. For the government to have no immediate back-up plan when incidents such as this happen is intriguing. It is management at its worst. PTCL may be a privatised company but telecommunications are far too important for us not to expect the government to provide alternative solutions. No one is blaming PTCL for the fire but surely the response to it merits critical scrutiny. If past experience is anything to go by, this building, like most others in the country would not have had adequate fire safety measures and drills. Our fire-fighting service, too, is chronically underfunded.

As citizens of Pakistan we have become used to government failing to provide basic services. Be it a clean water supply, regular electricity or even decent schools and hospitals, we increasingly have to make do without them or find solutions of our own through the private sector. Thriving industries have been built on our need for generators, private schools and water tankers. The link between these and the phone and internet outages in Lahore is that we no longer rely on the government and treat it as normal when a service is not provided to us. The government, too, eagerly takes a similarly dismissive attitude. For the government to wash its hands off its responsibility to its citizens is an admission of failure, not a desire to improve service delivery.

A tale of gloom

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon turned the usual ritual of world leaders giving hopeful speeches full of platitudes on its head at the UN General Assembly meeting. His assessment of the year so far was gloomy, with little hope and a seeming frustration at the inability of the UN to be an agent for positive change. Among the atrocities he mentioned were the emergence of Isis as a deadly threat in Iraq and Syria, Israel’s assault on Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. All of these crises have tested the limits of international, cooperative action and revealed the ineffectiveness of the UN. Ban Ki-moon, were he truly hoping to put his moral weight behind action on such issues, would have taken his speech to its logical conclusion and pointed out that the reason the UN is so helpless is because of the veto power. The permanent members of the Security Council block any action the UN could take, even if it is a condemnatory solution. Russia itself is a permanent member and so Ukraine remains off limits to the UN. The US always uses its veto power to shield Israel from the consequences of its actions while China pursues its own global interests. Reform of the Security Council and a sustained campaign against the use of the veto may be the UN’s last, best chance at relevance.

It is the superpowers that set the terms of debate at the UN, which is why only issues to their liking are given a thorough airing – hence talk of Isis. The militant group is an undoubted danger to Iraq and Syria, where it has made substantial territorial gains and could prove problematic to Turkey too. But there are regional militant groups in all parts of the world that do not get even a fraction of the attention. That is because they are not situated in regions rich in oil and in which the US has hegemonic designs. What the UN needs to debate is if US military action is appropriate and legal. Collective action of this kind should also come from the international body and not the whims of a superpower. The problems the UN secretary general has identified all stem from the imperialistic designs of the most powerful countries in the world. The issue is not, as he claimed, that we are returning to an era of cold-war politics. It is that those countries which caused the cold war have never really stopped their destructive behaviour.

Published in The News, Tuesday, September 30, 2014

__________________
"I am still learning."

The Afghan scene

The inauguration of Ashraf Ghani as the new president of Afghanistan after a bitterly divisive election is an opportunity to anticipate the future and reflect on the past. Some cautious optimism is in order since this is the first transition in the Afghan presidency since Hamid Karzai was appointed in 2001. The international community has also welcomed Ghani since he pledged to immediately sign a security agreement to keep Isaf forces in the country even once the US begins its withdrawal at the end of the year. This should, at a minimum, keep the aid spigot flowing. But the chances of the government surviving are still small. Abdullah Abdullah, despite entering a power-sharing agreement with Ghani, nearly ended up boycotting the inauguration after the final ballot results were printed despite his disagreement. If such a small matter is all it takes for Abdullah to get in a huff he is very likely to sabotage the government before long. Then Ghani has to face the even more existential threat of the Taliban, which keeps making territorial gains and carrying out attacks throughout the country. The Afghan army, beset with low morale and desertions, is unable to fight the Taliban and will be left even more exposed once the US begins its withdrawal.

The only silver lining is that Ashraf will find it difficult to be as bad a leader as Karzai. His predecessor may be lauded for the stability he brought to the country as he departs but such praise will come only from those with short memories. Karzai was not only hopelessly corrupt and compromised -- with his brother’s CIA and drug trade ties only being one example -- he always seemed to put personal power above the future of his country. His strategy for dealing with the Taliban involved making alliances with warlords, which only ended up alienating much of the population. He hemmed and hawed instead of taking action and amassed himself a fortune. Towards the end of his rule he seemed to give up altogether, leaving all difficult decisions -- such as the security agreement with the US -- to his successor. In his closing speech Karzai was true to form, taking a swipe at both the US and Pakistan while praising India. The erratic leader, whose closeness to the US seems to have swung with his moods, is now painting himself as a populist instead of the technocrat he really is. Ashraf Ghani, an anthropologist who worked for the World Bank, should be wary of treading a similar path.

Strange call

In a rather unusual message sent out from his Twitter account, Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto has apologised to party sympathisers for mistakes made in the past and for letting them down in any way. Interestingly he has not identified any mistake. He has said the party would be reformed, and the lost trust of disgruntled supporters regained. He emphasised that the party was not perfect and that things needed to change. The main focus of Bilawal’s message appeared to be to try and dissuade PPP loyalists from switching over to other parties, requesting them specifically to avoid aligning themselves with ‘pro-dictatorial’ parties or attending their rallies. He suggested instead that if they were angered by the PPP, they should remain with liberal parties and groups that had in the past backed PPP leaders, such as his late mother and grandfather.

The timing of the message, and of course its content, leave very little to the imagination. The tweet, sent out on Sunday, the same day as the PTI rally in Lahore seems rather obviously directed towards that party. This raises several interesting political themes. Given its ideological leanings, and the social class it attracts, the PTI was seen generally as a threat to the PML-N rather than the PPP. Bilawal Bhutto, however, quite evidently perceives it as a threat. Given that in the 2013 election the PPP was virtually wiped clean off the political map except in Sindh, it clearly needs to tackle any threat, particularly one in the crucial Punjab province if it is to win back its place as a major political force with a significant vote bank across the country. Bilawal’s message can be interpreted in several different ways. On the one hand it seems like an act of desperation; a demonstration of naivety by an inexperienced young man who has through his action exposed the weakness of his own party and perhaps even strengthened the PTI by giving it greater importance and publicity at a crucial time. The use of social media to send out the message suggests it was possibly directed at a particular group: the young and the relatively affluent liberals who Bilawal perhaps sees as the group most likely to support him. For some perhaps the message may indeed generate some sympathy, given that apologies and admissions of error from politicians are rare. But Bilawil will need to learn that tweets and posts on social media do not bring about any significant change. If he is to win back disgruntled PPP workers, the majority of whom do not have access to the tools he is using to communicate, he will need to step out into villages, into squatter colonies and other places and convince people that the PPP truly has something to offer, and that it is truly a party of ordinary people rather than of VIPs.

Published in The News, Wednesday, October 01, 2014

__________________
"I am still learning."

A taxing tale

Sometimes we are forced to wonder what the point is of even attempting to enforce laws in our country when those responsible for this do not follow them themselves. We have all heard of lawmakers who fail to pay their taxes. But now, through a report in this newspaper, we learn that those responsible for collecting taxes from others do not always pay them themselves. It seems that the saying ‘what is good for the goose is good for the gander’ is something that officials at the Federal Board of Revenue do not believe in. Perhaps they are convinced they are too high and mighty to do the same as the geese. After a prolonged effort using the Freedom of Information Act of 2002 and going to the Federal Ombudsman, The News was able to uncover information that 1000 out of 1300 FBI officials collecting salaries of over 50,000 – and therefore liable to pay taxes – had not done so in 2013. After warnings were issued and their salaries cut, this number fell to 77. But of course it is the attitude which counts as well.

Tax officials unwilling to pay their own dues are unlikely to make much effort to bring them in from others. This is perhaps one of the reasons Pakistan has among the worst tax collection records in the world. Only 1.5 percent of its citizens have an NTN number and file their returns every year, even though a far larger number should be doing so. The report also uncovered that senior tax officials were linked to some of the biggest tax-defaulters in the country through family relations or other ties. The situation would be funny were it not so serious. The lack of taxes brought into the revenue net damages our country in many ways, cutting down on the resources available for development and welfare. This major national issue has never been tackled properly. The evasive attitude initially adopted by the FBR on giving out information about its own taxpayers also says a great deal about how we function. Official bodies it seems exist simply for the purpose of being there, collecting their own salaries and other perks and enjoying their place in comfortable offices rather than setting about doing the work assigned to them. This disturbing state of affairs needs to be urgently amended. Only if we are able to do so will we have any hope of putting our country somewhere on the right track once again and making things work as they should. When those responsible for ensuring things get done do not follow the rules they make then there is very little chance of others following those rules. This is akin to disaster. There can be no remedy until the FBR reforms itself.

Silly standoff

As representatives of the people, parliamentarians are expected to act with both dignity and responsibility. They have often failed to do so in the past, and failed once more in particularly silly fashion on Tuesday, when members of the PTI and PML-N engaged in a skirmish involving the exchange of blows at a session of the NA Standing Committee on Communication. The altercation began after PTI member Salimur Rehman walked into the session to be asked by PML-N members why he was there when the PTI had resigned from the assemblies. This led to an increasingly harsh exchange of words, and the kind of slogans heard at rallies and the members then are reported to have come to blows. The PTI member insisted his party’s representatives were entitled to be present until their resignations were accepted. This of course is a technicality. What there is nothing technical about is the need to observe discipline and parliamentary behavior while in the National Assembly. There is simply no excuse for what happened at the standing committee. The chairman of the committee eventually had to intervene to break up the fighting groups. This is not something we wish to see at any time in the future.

It is also true, however, that the PTI’s apparent confusion over whether it is to resign or not is creating an immense amount of ill will and misunderstanding. It seems members of the party are reluctant to leave their seats. But the top leadership of the PTI has to take a decision one way or the other. It cannot simply keep sitting on the wall, unable to decide where it should jump down. The PTI can expect to be badgered for its uncertain stance on this matter. But at the same time such things need to be sorted out as the rules dictate and not through the use of fists or harsh words. What happened on Tuesday was unacceptable. We hope that the leaders of both parties involved will take note of the matter and warn their members against resorting to such behavior at any time, at least as long as they remain members of the NA or the other assemblies. The PTI truly needs to straighten its thinking and persuade all its members quite what is required.

Published in The News, Thursday, October 02, 2014

__________________
"I am still learning."

Agreement in Afghanistan

The very first act of the unity government of Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah was to soothe frayed American nerves and sign the Bilateral Security Agreement. Hamid Karzai, erratic to the very end, had eventually left the decision to his successor. This is why the US was so involved in hashing out an agreement between Ghani and Abdullah over the disputed election. It was worried about the possibility that the agreement would not be signed before the troop withdrawal began at the end of the year. The BSA itself, and a similar agreement with Nato, is hardly what either Afghanistan or the US needs. It would extend what is already the longest war the US has ever fought by another 10 years. US troops, ostensibly staying on to train the Afghan army and security forces, will still control all their bases in the country. Most scandalously, these troops will have immunity from prosecution under Afghan law. It was that very point which scuppered a similar agreement when the US withdrew from Iraq – and it should have signalled the death of the BSA too. US troops have killed and tortured their way through the country, indefinitely holding thousands of Afghan citizens in secret prisons without charge. They can now continue doing that with impunity till 2024.

For the US, the advantages of the BSA are that it will continue to guide the direction of the war against the Taliban and essentially control the Afghan army. But this strategic benefit is outweighed by the problems. Apart from the war-weariness that has caused many Americans to consider Afghanistan a lost war, there is likely no possible way for the Taliban to be defeated. If tens of thousands of Isaf troops couldn’t get the job done, it is scarcely imaginable to think a few thousand will manage the task. Pakistan, too, needs to be concerned about the BSA. The drone attacks launched in the tribal areas all originate from bases in Afghanistan. Knowing that US troops were no longer there would have given us an assurance that drone strikes would be halted. Now the US can resume them any time it wishes – and that too for at least 10 years. The US may know it cannot win the war but it is refusing to cut its losses and get out of a region it has done so much to destabilise.

Leaving the PTI

Javed Hashmi may be the only politician to emerge from the current political morass in Islamabad with any credit. He took the brave step of opposing his leader Imran Khan when he felt that the protest had got out of hand and was being directed by outside forces. He is also the only MNA to have actually submitted his resignation from the National Assembly, even as other PTI MNAs dodge having to do so themselves. Now, by formally resigning as the president of the PTI and filing his papers for the NA-149 constituency in Multan as an independent candidate, Hashmi has followed through with every promise he made. There have been hints that Hashmi may join the PML-N although those are unconfirmed at this time. It would be stark turnaround for a man who, even after his disagreements with Imran Khan, had continued to criticise the government. But his association with the PML-N is strong, particularly with activists of the party in Multan who were disappointed when he joined the PTI and are now back in his camp. Hashmi may change parties but his support base remains and his commitment to the democratic process has been unwavering.

Even as an independent candidate, Hashmi should not have too much trouble winning the by-election in NA-149, which is expected to be held towards the end of the month. He won the seat on a PTI ticket in 2013 by a huge margin of over 80,000 votes and won in 2008 on a PML-N ticket by about 70,000 votes. The PTI is putting its weight behind Aamir Dogar, who is also running as an independent but served as a member of the Punjab Assembly from 2008-2013 after winning on a PPP ticket. His family has a long history in Multan as PPP candidates but this time the PTI support may be crucial. Even then, the PTI party machinery in Multan was entirely dependent on Hashmi and many may defect. The PTI has relied heavily on individuals and their previous associations while building itself up and so faces an uphill task in dislodging Hashmi. As for the former PTI president, he seems on a mission not to defeat the PTI but to embarrass Shah Mehmood Qureshi. The two veteran politicians have a long and ugly history that has spilled into the public with Hashmi’s resignation. He blames Qureshi for misleading Imran and seems to be on a personal crusade to compete in an election against him. Whether Qureshi will ever submit to that is unlikely but the markers have been laid down in Multan for a bitter and divisive campaign.

Published in The News, Friday, October 03, 2014

__________________
"I am still learning."

Death of joy

The dual attacks on Thursday on people travelling home for Eidul Azha once more demonstrate how ruthless the terrorists are. Joy flickered out in dozens of homes across the country, as five kilograms of explosives left in a coach travelling from Peshawar to Parachinar detonated at Kohat Road, killing seven people and injuring at least six others. Even as their relatives began the rites of mourning, another remote controlled device tore through a passenger vehicle on the Skardu-Gilgit Road, killing three persons, including two women. The passengers were travelling to a predominantly Shia area, and it can be assumed the attack was sectarian in nature. The Gilgit and Skardu areas have experienced sectarian tensions in the past as well. Other acts of terrorist violence have also hit Peshawar. A few hours before the bus attack a police ASI was killed in what seems to be targeted killing. A day before this, a female school teacher was killed and two pupils injured after a grenade was hurled into a school. The institution had previously received threats warning it to switch to shalwar-kameez as the uniform. Such trivial issues can evidently cause lives to be snuffed out in our country.

The usual statements of condolence and condemnation have come in from political leaders. We are accustomed to hearing these. But the words mean nothing to the families of those who have lost loved ones and must now bury them as the rest of us mark Eid. If these tragedies are to be avoided we need an effective strategy. We will need to see if the National Counter Terrorism Centre, inaugurated by the chief of Army Staff at Kharian on Tuesday can help devise such a plan. In his speech General Raheel Sharif emphasised the need to combat all threats to the country, including that posed by militancy. The same point was brought up at the corps commanders meeting in Rawalpindi on Wednesday, with satisfaction also expressed during discussions on the military operation in North Waziristan, in which the army was stated to be doing a superb job of eradicating the militants. The resolve of the army to vanquish militancy is then clearly spelled out before us. This resolve is essential to defeating militancy. But on its own it is not enough. Realistically speaking, troops cannot guard every road or stand watch over every bus-stop and school. The civilian security apparatus, notably all intelligence wings, must work effectively as well – and work in cooperation with each other. At the same time, given the deep roots of militancy in our country, the federal and provincial governments must set about the task of changing mindsets, altering thinking. This is perhaps the most arduous task of all. But it must be undertaken if we are to avert further tragedies of the kind seen recently.

The new name of the game

Tahirul Qadri’s announcement that his party would contest the next general elections would have been most welcome if he had followed it up by saying that he was packing up his protest so that the PAT could prepare for the 2018 polls. Instead he doubled down by taking a cue from Imran Khan and vowing to take his anti-government crusade to Faisalabad and Lahore. Making known his intentions to be part of the democratic polity seems to have been a smokescreen for his anti-democratic agenda. Qadri still wants to overthrow the government and for unelected technocrats to take over for an unspecified period. He is no democrat. Qadri just knows that his protest is fizzling out and he needs something new to offer his tiring supporters. An outlandish claim that his party will sweep the next polls – no matter when they are held – may do the trick for a few days. Qadri himself, of course, cannot contest the elections. As a dual national who holds Canadian citizenship Qadri would be barred from standing for parliament under a 2012 Supreme Court verdict. This in itself should be sufficient to prove the insincerity of his proclamation. Qadri is too used to hogging the limelight to allow others in his party to overshadow him.

Qadri’s democratic credentials are far from perfect. He won election to the National Assembly from Lahore in 2002 but resigned two years later, giving a litany of excuses ranging from the valid to the ludicrous. He claimed everything from the dictatorship of Pervez Musharraf to the Iraq War as a reason he could no longer serve in parliament. The PAT then boycotted the 2008 elections. Qadri is a publicity seeker who wants to make waves rather than put in the hard work of building country-wide support and developing a political party. In this he is similar to Imran Khan, whose PTI also boycotted the 2008 elections and has been similarly trying to bring down the whole order. Imran’s nationwide tour reached Mianwali – the only constituency to elect him or any other PTI candidate in 2002 – where he recited his familiar litany of complaints and demanded the immediate resignation of Nawaz Sharif. There is of course no constitutional ground for the PM to step down from the post to which he was elected last year. Imran also challenged the PML-N or any other party to hold a rally as large as his own in Mianwali. His tone at his gatherings remains harsh and he appears to have no desire to calm the political turmoil created by the twin protests. Qadri and Imran are peas in a pod. Both talk of ‘true’ democracy but seem not to realise there is more to a democratic system than rallies and protests. Showing street power is only the beginning. Winnings votes and demonstrating the capacity to govern are far harder tasks. For now, the first phase of the ‘protests’, with the long sit-ins that we followed for weeks appears over. Rallies are now the name of the game.

Published in The News, Saturday, October 04, 2014

__________________
"I am still learning."

The polio blame

Another unenviable record now belongs to Pakistan as the number of confirmed polio cases in the country crossed 200 – the most we have had in our recent history. While the vast majority of the polio cases are from Fata and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, further outbreaks in Karachi and Quetta show that the problem is a national one. Instead of hanging their heads in shame, our representatives are downplaying the severity of the polio epidemic. The Sindh health minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed said that the 19 confirmed cases in the province are not too big a deal since most cases still come from up north. He then proceeded to blame the spread of the polio virus on IDPs fleeing the fighting in Fata. Seeking to deflect blame will not work since a strain of the polio virus found in Karachi has been transported to as far as Syria. And the ethnic divide in Karachi is already deep enough without government officials worsening it by blaming the spread of polio on one group. Too many polio workers have been targeted and killed in Karachi for the government to be so blasé about a problem it has done little to contain.

Polio workers have refused to continue their immunisation campaigns till they are provided better security. They are already risking their lives – at least 58 people have been killed in attacks on polio teams in the last two years – for the meagre pay of Rs 250 a day. The Sindh health minister promised to increase that to Rs500 but no amount of money will suffice if it carries with it the risk of a death sentence. The high rate of vaccination refusal can be partly attributed to the fear of parents that they and their children will be targeted if they take the polio drops. The other factor is, of course, poverty and ignorance. The TTP and other like-minded groups have been successful enough in their propaganda campaign against polio vaccines to now make us one of only three countries in the world where polio is a going concern. A disease we had all but wiped out is now increasing at an alarming rate. The speed with which polio spreads means that unless every child is vaccinated the following year will have more confirmed cases than the one preceding it. The travel restrictions now in place for Pakistanis will seem like a minor inconvenience compared to the sanctions that may be in store for us. By failing to contain polio we are not only destroying our children’s futures but risking the futures of those around the world.

Fear of the public

That our parliamentarians consider themselves above the law has never been a secret. They have always considered their power to be a perk that entitles them to flout the law of the land. A deadline of September 30 had been set for all representatives to declare their assets and liabilities as well as those of their spouses and dependents but by the deadline only 414 out of the 1,174 lawmakers had done so. Since then there has been a rush to comply with the regulations but 398 legislators are yet to do so. The Election Commission of Pakistan is now seeking the power to suspend their membership from the assemblies for a period of 60 days. The law as it currently stands gives the parliamentarians a grace period of two weeks to submit their asset details after which the complete list is made public. Should anyone still fail to do so by then, the ECP should be allowed to suspend them. The list of those who hadn’t filed their asset declarations by September 30 included such government luminaries as Shahbaz Sharif, Pervaiz Khattak and Imran Khan. Even now Khattak, as well as ministers like Shahid Khaqan Abbasi are in contravention of the law.

The presence of so many PTI leaders on the list deserves special scrutiny because the impetus for its protests has been the corruption of our politicians. Their refusal to comply with the law makes a mockery of their claims. The refusal of PTI leaders like Arif Alvi and Asad Umar to submit details of their assets only adds to the hypocrisy. And right now we only have part of the picture. Once the asset details are made public we will have a better idea of who is underreporting income. The real tragedy is the way parliamentarians, elected to serve the public, end up lording over us. Tax evasion is rife among the rich and powerful and no government has shown the backbone to do anything about it. The real losers are us, who are denied public services and have our tax revenue used to pay off external debt because the national exchequer is empty. Suspension of errant lawmakers should only be the start. If they continue to abuse their power expulsion may be the only option left.

Little gold

Barring a silver lining provided by our women cricketers, Pakistan was once again unable to make its presence felt in the Asian Games. As the curtain fell on Asiad 2014, the fact that Pakistan barely managed to win just five medals, out of which only one was a gold, should come as yet another eye-opener for our sports authorities. Once regarded as a sporting powerhouse in the region, Pakistan failed to finish among the top 20 nations even as tiny states like Brunei, Singapore and Kuwait managed much bigger hauls in the continental spectacle. The high point for Pakistan came on the cricket field where their women cricketers pipped Bangladesh in a rain-hit finale to defend their Asian Games title. Another high point could have come in the hockey arena but the Greenshirts, who were the defending champions, fell to old rivals India in a nerve-racking final that was decided on a penalty shoot-out. It was India’s first victory over Pakistan in an Asian Games final in 48 years and earned them a direct spot for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Pakistan, in contrast, will have to take the perilous road of qualifying rounds in a bid to find a ticket to Rio.

The low points were just too many for this sports-mad nation. Pakistan’s squash team which went to Incheon as a favourite to retain the gold even failed to reach the semi-finals of the event. The national boxers, who were once the chief source for Pakistan to win Asian Games medals, flopped miserably with Quetta’s Muhammad Waseem being the only exception. The decline in Pakistan sports which began back in the eighties has continued for far too long. But the people at the helm of national sports have failed to do much about it. Over the years, Pakistan has joined the ranks of second-tier nations in Asia. At the Olympics, it doesn’t even enjoy that status. It is time concrete and long-term efforts are made to pull our sports out of its abyss of failure and negativity. For too long have our administrators gone scot-free even as Pakistan continued to falter at the international level. Heads should roll in the aftermath of the Incheon disaster but, perhaps more importantly, new plans need to be devised and implemented to bolster our sports.

Published in The News, Sunday, October 05, 2014

__________________
"I am still learning."