Degrees of protest

September 16, 2012

It would not be unreasonable to say that Pakistan on Friday was braced and expecting the worst. Security was enhanced everywhere in anticipation of at the very least mass rallies and possible violence and civil disorder. The very reasonable concern was that the destructive events surrounding the blasphemous film that has appeared on the Internet and which have engulfed many of the countries of the Maghrib, would engulf us too. That did not happen. There were dozens of protests all across the country, but the numbers in attendance were below what many expected, with the total for the entire country probably in the tens of thousands rather than the hundreds of thousands. There were calls denouncing America and for the killing of blasphemers, but there was a notable lack of violence and minimal damage to property. The crowds came together peacefully, listened to what were highly-charged speeches in some instances, and dispersed without burning cars, looting shops or causing general mayhem. Members of civil society groups have made protests in a range of ways including via the social and electronic media and our government has equally made its views known. A commendable restraint was exercised in respect of limiting access to the internet, and the selective blocking of blasphemous sites or material will be overseen by a group mandated to intervene as necessary.

In the frenzy of reporting about events following the murder of the American ambassador to Libya prominence has been given to crowds targeting western embassies or fast food outlets. Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Tunisia, Sudan, Afghanistan and Kuwait have seen varying levels of violent protest, some of it severe. The uprisings of the Arab spring have removed many of the pro-American regimes and the strong-men who headed them. Those regimes either suppressed Islamic expression or severely limited it, often violently. New governments are finding their feet, and Islamists are everywhere moving into positions of power via democratic process. That said, protests against the film are not uniformly spread across the Muslim world. Levels of protest in the three countries with the largest Muslim populations – Pakistan, India and Indonesia each with populations of over 150 million Muslims – are significantly lower than in Libya with six million and 10 million in Tunisia. Some parts of the Muslim world are not protesting at all – Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Russia and China as well as Europe and the US have seen minimal protest but have significant Muslim populations. It would seem that in Pakistan, contrary to expectations, cooler heads have prevailed and this is exactly as it should be. Strong but dignified and peaceful protest earns us a lot more respect than does chaos and violent disorder. And if this is the beginning of a trend then we both support and welcome it.

Rauf’s resignation

September 16, 2012

The resignation of the Sindh Minister for Industries and Commerce, Abdul Rauf Siddiqui, over the Karachi fire sets a precedent that the people of this country have sought for decades. Is it a sign that the people’s representatives are at long last beginning to understand the weight of responsibility that sits on their shoulders? The answer to this question will depend on whether Siddiqui’s resignation prompts genuine soul-searching among his colleagues as the fallout from the deadly factory fire that claimed nearly 300 lives in Karachi last week grows. Surprising as it may be to see someone fall on their sword in this culture of impunity, the real need of the hour is a root and branch overhaul of safety and labour standards – something the economics of power and politics of greed could yet stymie.

Perhaps the best course of action is for a high-powered and independent inquiry committee to be set up to determine why factories such as Ali Enterprises are able to operate in blatant violation of the existing rules, how the laws can be tightened to make compliance more effective, and to make recommendations on how to insulate the relevant departments from political and other kinds of pressure. Even in a declining state, labour safety standards can and ought to be raised in Pakistan’s major industrial hubs. The staggering scale of the tragedy in Karachi ought not to obscure similar threats that exist in other industrial hubs. Lahore witnessed a large incident with a grim death toll the same day as Karachi but has seen far fewer recriminations. This is all the more reason to ensure that the short national attention span, particularly of lawmakers and administrators, does not move on from the Karachi disaster without long-term reform in place. At the very least, the country owes it to the memory of those who died so needlessly last week.

Disturbing details

September 16, 2012

The Scotland Yard probe into the murder of MQM leader Dr Imran Farooq some two years ago in London is beginning to produce some interesting results. It turns out that Dr Farooq, who had sought and received political asylum in the UK 12 years ago, was planning to launch his own completely independent political party. As a means to revive what he saw as a flagging career, Dr Farooq had launched a Facebook page and was using the social network to build a support base. Scotland Yard appears to believe these developments may have been a factor in his murder. Revelations made to this newspaper by a Scotland Yard source add a different dimension to the entire case. The obvious question is: who would have lost out had Dr Farooq been able to set up a brand new party? The answers might be lurking somewhere in the murky soup of Pakistani politics. Scotland Yard has also said that eight persons, all Pakistanis, are being questioned in the case. Some 3,000 people have already been interviewed in detail, and other interviews are continuing. The London police have also put out an appeal for any new information that could provide insight. An award of 20,000 British pounds is being offered for any information about the murderers or help in discovering who bought the knives used for the stabbing. Obviously there are still many aspects of the case that need to be solved.

It also seems danger still hovers. Dr Farooq’s widow, Shumaila Farooq and their two young sons are living at a secret location in the UK on the assumption that they could be targeted. It is uncertain what information about her husband’s activities in his last days may have been provided by Shumaila. It is to the credit of the British police that it has diligently kept up efforts to discover the truth. At home, we are too used to a culture in which crimes are committed and then forgotten about altogether within months. There are many unsolved murders on our records – Benazir Bhutto’s being one of them. While the British force investigating the Imran Farooq case has been reduced from 84 to 40, the probe goes on in full swing. It is just possible that this probe may have earthshaking consequences for the Pakistani political scene as speculations have started that some London-based Pakistani politicians may be thinking of returning home. In any case, this is an example we need to learn from. If we finally discover who killed Dr Farooq, and if the political links are established, Pakistani politics may be heading for another round of turmoil.

Let’s move on

September 17, 2012

As expected, last week too, the attorney general turned up at the hearing of the Asghar Khan petition without the notification that enabled the formation of the ISI’s political cell. After the court has itself ruled that there is no longer any ambiguity about the role of intelligence agencies in Pakistani politics and when it is a fact as clear as daylight that the ISI’s political cell was set up by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1975, how could the notification have disappeared off the surface of the earth? Or, as the chief justice himself asked on Thursday, when the political cell has been active for decades and up to all sorts of mischief, including distributing millions of rupees of public money among anti-PPP politicians to manipulate the 1990 elections, how is it possible that the notification that enabled this cell to be set up in the first place is nowhere to be found? It’s not with the ministry of defence. The ministry of interior has no clue where it disappeared. The Cabinet Division has also come up with zilch. Nargis Sethi has no answers either. So where does one turn to – the intelligence agency itself perhaps? Does the ISI have a copy and should the court summon one from it?

The larger point here is that, when the Asghar Khan case was first revived for hearing before the Supreme Court on February 29, many looked upon it as a litmus test of the Supreme Court’s resolve to extend accountability to even the godliest altars of power in Pakistan. But as each hearing goes by, it looks like the hope for meaningful results will be dashed by those adamant not to allow the truth to come out. At this point then, in order to let proceedings move forward, we suggest that since the court has already ruled in two separate orders that money was indeed distributed by the ISI to influence the 1990 election and also that the ISI cannot legally operate a political cell, it is time for the process of real accountability to begin. We already have several definitive statements from the court that the non-uniformed aren’t the only ones accountable for their transgressions and that the political forays of the uniformed must stop. It is thus time to move on to punishing those who clearly transgressed all constitutional limits and sentence all those who willfully acted outside the ambit of the law and constitution in the discharge of, what they claim, were official duties. This is a chance for the court to draw red lines and not allow victory to those standing in the way of this case reaching its logical conclusion. In the recent past, the court has rightfully suspended the national assembly memberships of parliamentarians for breaking the law. It has even sent a prime minister home for placing his parochial political interests before his allegiance to the constitution. Good precedents have been set with all these rulings. It is now time to take to task top army officers who knowingly violated their oath of office and defiled the constitution, and in this way set a precedent against the political workings of the ISI and the army. Most importantly, such a precedent will also serve to save the institution itself from the illegal actions of a few officers.

Fading away

September 17, 2012

President Zardari was in an exculpatory mood last Thursday as he talked informally with the BBC after a lunch at the presidency. While he was quick to say that 3,500MW of power had been added to the national grid during his tenure, he omitted to mention that most of that came from projects initiated by the last government. He did admit to a failure to beat the power crisis or restrain inflation, but blamed the global financial crisis and the eternally increasing price of oil – on which we are perilously dependent to power what is left of our generating facilities. It was, as ever, somebody else’s fault, except that it isn’t. The economy is falling apart. The textile manufacturing industry has taken flight en-masse to Bangladesh. Unemployment rises steadily and as the world recovers from the financial disasters of the last five years – all of them very much man-made let us not forget – Pakistan has failed to keep pace with the growth in global trade.

Our share of global trade has reduced from 0.20 percent in 1990 to 0.18 percent in 2011. All of our neighbours and other regional players, with the exception of Afghanistan, have increased their share according to newly-published figures from the World Trade Organisation (WTO). India has taken its share from 0.40 percent in 1995 to 1.80 percent in 2011, a four and a half times jump. China, in the same period, quadrupled its share to reach 9.8 percent of all global trade. Our exports were valued at $25.344 billion in 2011, against imports of $44.012 billion in the same year. One does not have to be a financial wizard to understand that these figures are bad news. The reasons why we lag behind are equally obvious, and the frustrations at lost opportunity expressed by industrialists and businessmen entirely understandable. Our market share of the global textile trade has declined from around two percent at the turn of the century to 1.34 percent today. Textile and clothing make up 60 percent of our exports. We lag behind because, unlike our neighbours and competitors, the government has not offered the incentives and facilitations that have promoted growth in other countries. If our textile industry had the same access to financing, at the same preferential rates as in India and China, our exports could quickly increase by 40 percent according to one industry analyst. Another opined that our chronically poor law and order situation, inflation and the crippling power crisis probably knocked off 30 percent from our production capacity in this one sector alone every year. The drop in productivity cannot be laid at the feet of those with the capacity to produce. They can deliver the goods but only if the government delivers on its end of the deal – and that it has signally failed to do.

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

Respect, please

September 18, 2012

While across the Middle East and wider Muslim world the weekend was filled with demonstrations, burning and violence, Pakistan too braced for the worst over the release of a crude video mocking the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). However, come Saturday night, level-headed Pakistanis breathed a sigh of relief when protests, as charged and angry as they rightfully were, remained mostly peaceful and demonstrators vented their fury with charged speeches and fiery banners but dispersed with minimum damage to property and no loss of lives. As we noted at the time, it seemed that, contrary to all expectations, cooler heads had prevailed. But we may have spoken too soon. Come Sunday evening, one person was killed and dozens were injured when anti-American protesters tried to storm the US Consulate in Karachi and clashed for several hours with the police and paramilitary troops. According to reports in the media, around 1,000 protesters pelted stones at the gate of the US Consulate and police responded with teargas and firing into the air. Monday brought news that one person was killed and two others were injured as a result of police gunfire during protests against the anti-Islam film in the Upper Dir district of Khyber Pakhtunkhawa. Karachi, like other cities, is bracing itself for more mayhem.

As more demonstrations and violence are expected in the days to come, three important factors merit highlighting. One, the police in Karachi, and across the country, definitely need to re-think their crowd control tactics, and improve measures to control and disperse riotous civilians. Two, this may be a good time for the government to reach out to religious leadership across the country and convince them that, while protests are a democratic right and this is most certainly more than a worthy cause to be protesting, religious groups may want to reconsider their modes of protests in this charged environment. As we have said before, strong and dignified protests are much more likely to see desired results than violent disorder or attempts to harm human lives. Finally, it is important for the US to understand at this point that the outpouring of outrage across the Muslim world and in Pakistan is not just over one video but over anger that has pent up due to decades of perceived vilification of Muslims and their faith by the US and its military. The images of abuse from the Abu Ghraib prison are etched in the minds of Muslims around the globe. The desecration of the Quran by troops in Afghanistan and a pastor in Florida are not instances that will be forgotten for a long time to come. The increasing deaths of Muslim civilians as collateral damage in drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere and other countless instances have cemented in Muslim minds the idea that their identity, values and the symbols they hold most dear are perpetually open to threat of insult or injury. In essence then, it is this impression that the United States must fight to erase. In Pakistan, after Sunday’s attack on the consulate, the US government tried to distance itself from the film by saying it has “absolutely nothing to do with this video.” A Twitter message by the American Embassy read: “We reject its [video’s] content and its message.” Of the millions of dollars that the US ostensibly spends in Pakistan, and in other Muslim countries, perhaps some of it may be diverted to better public relations to systematically reduce resentment of Washington. Anger at America’s decade-old war against terrorism will not die down overnight. Muslims across the world demand respect and dignity, and as most of them see things today, it seems as if it is precisely this respect and dignity that the United States refuses to accord them. This is where the real challenge for the Americans presently lies.

Dangerous sheep

September 18, 2012

Mystery, confusion and conflicting statements surround the 21,268 sheep currently quarantined at a meat company warehouse in Razzaqabad. The sheep started their journey in Australia, thence to Bahrain. They were refused entry to Bahrain, never landed there and were bought by a Pakistani importer and landed here instead. That much at least is clear, but little else is. The sheep are to be culled and buried – not the best option since burning is preferable in order to completely eradicate any virus – but the question of how they entered the country in the first place needs to be urgently answered. Bahrain had rejected the animals because they were diseased, and it is impossible to believe that both the local importer and the quarantine officials at Port Qasim were unaware of this. The animals are infected with a virus that is not indigenous to Pakistan but is highly transmissible, and the consequences of it getting into our livestock could be catastrophic. It is incomprehensible that they were allowed ashore in the first place, and responsibility for this primary failure lies squarely with the Port Qasim quarantine officers.

As to conflicting statements, the owner of the Pakistan Livestock and Meat Company says that the National Veterinary Laboratory had confirmed that the sheep were virus-free, and that no animal had died as a result of infection. The Sindh and federal governments say that laboratory tests they commissioned show that the animals had foot-and-mouth disease as well as other previously-confirmed bacterial infections. Surely the National Veterinary Laboratory is capable of detecting this, and if it is not then why is it still in business and what can be done to bring it up to a standard that will protect us from incidents such as this? These animals present a grave risk to public health the longer they live. There was a breach of the very controls that are in place to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in animals globally. It was grossly irresponsible or criminally negligent of both the importer and the quarantine officers in exposing the country to a danger such as this. Our herds and flocks have already been depleted and damaged by two years of dreadful flooding and the very last thing we needed was a disease outbreak for which there is no cure apart from culling. The sooner these sheep are dead and gone the better – and then we need answers to the questions outlined above.

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

The aftermath

Enquiries continue into the circumstances surrounding the fire in a garment factory in Baldia that took 289 lives last week. The tribunal investigating the fire has heard detailed and sometimes conflicting accounts, but a window is already opening on just how big the failure of fire-safety is in our largest city. The head of the tribunal on Tuesday put his finger on it when he asked the head of the fire service about the lack of fire-safety in banks, shopping malls and high-rise housing and offices. The head of the fire service replied that the city’s fire service was under-equipped and required at least 50 ‘snorkels’ to cover the city. Additionally, the reach of the tallest snorkel currently in service is 100 feet. One only has to cast an eye around the skyline of Karachi to know this is woefully inadequate. He confirmed that many of the types of building enquired after by the tribunal chair were indeed without fire-escapes or fire-fighting equipment. Given the substandard quality of construction and electrical installations across the country, there are millions who risk their lives every day merely by attending their workplace.

As to the Baldia fire, there is still no certainty as to what caused it. The fire chief and the electrical inspector are unsure if it was caused by a short-circuit or some other means, and the basement of the building was said to be still too hot for detailed examination. This contradicted the preliminary report of the police investigation team, which identified the cause as an electrical fault. Rehman Malik added nothing to the understanding of the case by saying that terrorism could not be ruled out. The head of the tribunal has directed the various parties to come up with, and agree on, one source for the fire. Conflicts such as this demonstrate poor communication and coordination, and perhaps a lack of forensic capacity. Independent experts are to be consulted, which is never a good indicator of the strength of local capacities. For anything to change as a result of the Baldia fire, a number of paradigms are going to have to shift – from the design of buildings to an acceptance and implementation of safety codes to reinstating factory and building inspectorates nationwide. They were stopped in Sindh in 2003 on the complaint of factory owners, alleging corruption in the inspectorates. Rooting out the corruption rather than shutting down the inspectorate is not a solution likely to occur to our leaders and rulers. Pakistan is building ever larger and taller buildings of all types and, unless the safety and fire-control infrastructure is developed alongside these structures, they are nothing less than disasters in the making.

The new target

On Tuesday the forces of terror and hatred set their eyes on a new target: Karachi’s Bohra community. Amid the evening hustle and bustle, Tuesday saw two bomb explosions, both at the same spot, in a Bohra area in North Nazimabad. The bomb was planted just a few hundred metres from the area’s Bohri Jamaat Khaana and many were returning from prayers at the time of the first blast. So far, six of the seven dead in both blasts belong to the Bohra community. The twin blasts were, perhaps, the first targeted attack against the community and came just one day after the visit to Karachi of Syedi Mufaddal Bhaisaheb Saifuddin, the designated successor to the office of Da’i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohras. The Bohra community was abuzz with activity and excitement over the visit and a large number of the community’s members from across the country and India were visiting Karachi for the occasion.

Indeed, is the Bohra community – numbering half a million – going to become the next big target of religious terrorists and, if yes, do the powers that be even care? The second half of the question is easy to answer. The extent to which Karachi is in the grips of violent crisis is evident from the fact that Tuesday also saw thirteen other people dead, including three Muttahida Qaumi Movement activists, a Jamaat-e-Islami activist, a deputy district officer education, and an officer of the Federal Investigation Agency. Turf wars between political parties; sectarianism and factional infighting; clashes between land and extortion mafias; deep mistrust among ethnic groups; easy access to illicit weapons and misuse of arms licenses – Karachi has all the makings of disaster. Violence enabled and perpetrated by criminal gangs affiliated with parties across the political spectrum has for decades manifested itself in abductions for ransom, target killings and ethnic cleansing, arson, street crimes, damage to property and infrastructure, and capital flight. Now we can also add to this deadly mix growing sectarian violence. There should be no doubt, then, that Karachi is turning into what a Supreme Court judgment from last year called “a threat to the very stability of Pakistan.” The police remain crippled by political appointments and low numbers, and even senior security officials privately admit they are in no position to fully enforce the law. So what should one expect?

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

Off they go

September 21, 2012

The Supreme Court has finally delivered the short order on petitions challenging the dual nationalities of lawmakers. All legislators with twin nationalities now stand disqualified and have been declared ineligible for public office. The court has also directed the Election Commission to initiate proceedings against lawmakers who provided incorrect information about the status of their nationalities and thereby defiled their oath of office. Chief among such lawmakers is now former Interior Minister Rehman Malik who, as it turns out, was a British citizen until May 29, 2012, even though he submitted an affidavit for the 2008 Senate elections stating otherwise. The court has directed the ECP to initiate legal proceedings against Malik and to register a criminal case. The same is to be the fate of all other lawmakers who made similarly fallacious declarations.

Is the verdict harsh? The ruling party may cry foul but it is not the Supreme Court but the constitution of this country that bars lawmakers from being dual nationals. Article 63(1)(c) of the constitution clearly reads: “A person shall be disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), if he ceases to be a citizen of Pakistan, or acquires the citizenship of a foreign state.” In essence, then, these disqualifications are not an articulation of the SC caprices but an attempt to implement the constitution in letter and spirit. Likewise, the court is also well within its rights to order legal proceedings against lawmakers who, under oath, actively lied about the status of their nationality. Indeed, what could be more disgraceful and undignified than parliamentarians – the very people into whose hands we entrust the making of this country’s sacred laws – misleading the courts and the country about their true status as nationals of Pakistan or other countries? At this point then, we can only hope that, when the Election Commission gets down to the task of examining the cases of National Assembly and provincial assembly members individually, as directed by the court in Thursday’s ruling, lawmakers will have better sense to tell the truth in the fresh declarations that will be sought from them.

Another attack

September 21, 2012

The kind of news we consume daily – in our newspapers and on our television sets – has become eerily familiar, with reports of the same kinds of attacks carried out by the same culprits. The latest such incident took place on the outskirts of Peshawar Wednesday, when a van carrying Pakistan Air Force personnel was bombed, killing eight and wounding 30 people. The device had been placed in a busy area and was denoted by remote control, according to police officials. As has become the norm, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, which like past attacks targeted security personnel. Those in uniform have for long remained a key Taliban target. The police are investigating the incident but this seems unlikely to lead to much. It is an established pattern with arrests often proving difficult. While the small fry are captured, those who actually plot and plan such assaults almost inevitably escape without facing any consequences. This has only encouraged more killing and led to further mayhem by militant groups.

We have also completely failed to tame the Taliban or other groups who use violence to carry forward their message. It is true the scale of such attacks may have reduced slightly when compared to the situation some four or five years ago, but from time to time daring attacks are launched. A top security site – the Kamra Air Base – was hit only weeks ago. The question is how to put an end to this alarming state of affairs. Somewhere in our tribal areas, Taliban leaders still hold sway and retain the ability to carry out attacks where and when they please. This does not say much for the success of the military operation against them that has continued over many years and disrupted the lives of tens of thousands of ordinary citizens. The time has come to assess why this is the case.

Sino-Japanese ties

September 21, 2012

A dispute over the sovereignty of a group of tiny uninhabited islands threatens to negatively impact on the economies of China and Japan. The physical demonstrations against Japanese interests and diplomatic missions in China appear to be dying down, and neither side seems to have much taste for escalation. The Chinese economy is already contracting; a report by HSBC on Thursday detailed 11 months of decline with little sign of reversal. In the wake of violent and destructive protests, factories, mini-markets, clothing and vehicle retailers and fast-food outlets that were Japanese owned are closed, with some virtually in ruins. Nissan, Toyota, Honda and Mazda have suspended operations at some of their plants and hundreds of 7-Eleven shops run by a Japanese company are closed. There have been calls – heeded – to boycott Japanese goods and services and the stock-market value of a number of Japanese companies has fallen; Nissan by five percent, Honda by 2.5 percent and Uniqlo by seven percent.

Analysts in both countries see this as a potential turning point. The Japanese, who anyway have a somewhat tendentious relationship with China that historically spans wars dating back centuries, may decide to recalibrate their risk exposure in terms of investing and operating on the Chinese mainland. They could choose to diversify into South America and Southeast Asia, as well as the African states where China is already busy deepening its own economic ties and activity. This is no storm in an economic teacup. Trade between the two in 2011 was valued at almost $350 billion. China is Japan’s largest export market and has received foreign direct investments of about $12 billion from Japan in the same period. Tourism between the two is a significant revenue-earner and more than three million Japanese visit China every year. At the height of the demonstrations there were wild rumours that China was preparing to go to war with Japan. They were unsubstantiated but indicative of the negativity generated by the sovereignty of the islands. The US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta is travelling in the region and has called for restraint and a diplomatic settlement, something that seems distant for now. There are other tiny scraps of land across the Asia-Pacific region whose ownership is hotly disputed as the global hunt for extractable resources turns to seabeds and offshore exploration. Territoriality matters and, where national boundaries are drawn and internationally recognised, determines who benefits from the resources at the bottom of the sea. China and Japan are unlikely to clash militarily over the issue, but the economic damage will have significant and long-term implications.

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

Enabling rage

September 22, 2012

Given the calamitous violence of Friday, it would be very hard now to justify calling it ‘Love Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) Day.’ The government had on Wednesday announced that Friday would be observed as ‘Yaum-e-Ishq-e-Rasool’ to raise national voice against the anti-Islam film that has enraged Muslims across the globe. In theory, a national holiday was announced to lend official support to people rightfully enraged by the blasphemous video and to express national love for the Holy Prophet (pbuh). However, as the day unfolded, it saw violent rioting, loss of human lives and damage to public property across the country. Those responsible for it should ask themselves if this would have been endorsed by the Prophet (pbuh). People were killed and injured, cinemas were burnt to crisp; tollbooths, petrol stations, shops and cars were torched; and life as we know it came to a standstill across the country. In essence, the nation lost a golden opportunity to tell the world that it was capable of dignified protest and would not be provoked to answer hate with hate. Despite all public appeals by the government, opposition parties and concerned members of civil society that the protesters refrain from harming their own countrymen, Friday brought the number of those killed in protests to at least eight in one week.

Should we have expected the day to unfold any differently? Government representatives say they declared the national holiday to defuse protesters’ fury by giving them an outlet instead of ordering the police to clamp down on rallies and estranging an already enraged public. But given that much damage had already been done even before Yaum-e-Ishq-e-Rasool was announced, was there wisdom in allowing a government-sanctioned day of protest? Indeed, if the government had genuinely thought the protests would be peaceful, would it have simultaneously ordered all major roads in the capital blocked with containers, suspended mobile phone services across the country and had the army ready to step in and control the situation? Given the violence the country had witnessed all week, was it time to calm down on violence or to put a stamp of approval on violent forces and officially give protesters an extra day to take to the streets? Finally, was this a good idea given that it was clear that there was neither the will nor the capability to cope with riotous protesters? The sheer magnitude of the visibly well-planned protest rallies across the country should have spurned the centre, and the provincial governments, to take necessary measures to protect life and property. This was not done. Instead, what we saw was governance at its worst — followed by a shameful attempt by different political forces to blame each other for the ensuing violence. What are we to make of all this? There is no doubt that several religious parties have used the protests for political dividends, flexing their political muscle and forcing the mainstream parties to bow before their agendas. However, the biggest problem here seems to be the ruling party, the PPP, which has become so obsessed with its short-term gains — completing this term and winning a new one — that it has abandoned the question of what kind of country it wants Pakistan to be, and what kind of relationship it wants Pakistan to have with the outside world. Tapping into outrage over the film by announcing a national holiday appeared to be the best way for the government to get on the right side of the public, and that’s exactly what it did. Indeed, one can imagine that for a government that has failed in every major way that a voter would care about — governance, power, jobs, security — flashing its Islamic credentials seemed like the prudent thing to do. However, in trying to serve its narrow goals, it unleashed mobs on the streets, with batons in their hands and hatred, not love, in their hearts.

Turning the key

September 22, 2012

For an engine of any sort to begin to run, all the various components have to be in working order, a fuel source connected, electrical circuits in order and a key in the ignition. An extremely large and potentially powerful engine, it appears, is ready to fire up, and the first day of the Pak-India trade talks in Islamabad ended on Thursday with the two sides agreeing to resolve the issues of the non-tariff barriers and the phasing out of the negative lists. There were representatives of the central banks and foreign ministries of both countries, people from the power sector, the railways and civil aviation. These are the men and women who, if anything is to happen, will be the ones to pour in the oil and turn on the ignition. They are the real movers and shakers that come into play once the diplomatic details are agreed and the treaties signed.

The ground has been prepared for the signing of three crucial agreements relating to customs, certification and the resolution of trade grievances. Once signed, these will allow the formulation of a set of rules — the future standard operating procedures or SOPs — that will facilitate the implementation of the agreements. Without such detailed agreements there can be no moving forwards. Such work may lack the headline-grabbing capacity of high-level diplomacy and photo-ops, but it is what is going to make the engine of trade between the two nations run smoothly. Alongside the here-and-now there was a little futurology in evidence. There was discussion about potential cooperation in construction, air links, courier and communications services and the promotion of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on both sides of the border. There is to be a harmonisation of regulatory bodies, and a look at how double taxation can be avoided — the nuts and bolts commerce. This is not to say that all will be smooth sailing, because it will not. There will be glitches and misunderstandings — genuine rather than contrived — and there are anxieties among some sectors of the business community on both sides of the border about how level, or not, the playing field is. But the groundwork is now laid and the engine of bilateral trade, almost unthinkable even two years ago, is primed for start-up.

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

Disappearances

September 23, 2012

The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has completed its first visit to Pakistan, meeting members of government, politicians, civil society organisations and relatives of the disappeared during its ten-day visit. Just the fact that the UN Working Group felt compelled to examine the issue in our country is disturbing. Till we first began to hear of them nearly a decade ago, ‘forced’ disappearances were generally associated with past dictatorships in Latin America, South East Asia and nations in Africa. In Pakistan, this is a new form of abuse – adding to the many others that exist. At a press conference on Thursday, the Chairman of the Working Group, Olivier de Frouville noted that cases of enforced disappearances continue to be reported to national authorities, but there are controversies both on figures and on the practices used. He also said some 500 disappearances were on the group’s radar. Based on their findings, Frouville and group member Osman El-Hajj, will submit a detailed report to the UN Human Rights Council in 2013. While recognising Pakistan’s security challenges, the Working Group emphasised that, according to the 1992 Declaration for Protection of All Persons against Enforced Disappearances, in no circumstances could enforced disappearances be justified.

Efforts by the government and the courts to tackle the problem were also appreciated by the UN mission. Last Thursday, the Supreme Court, while hearing the case, had rejected a report handed in by the Balochistan provincial government on the matter and stated that a weekly report would now be required. The UN experts also expressed agreement with human rights groups and the apex court that the powers of intelligence agencies needed to be contained. The UN visit has raised some controversy, with the government initially seeming nervous and some political parties fiercely opposing it. But given that the problem has continued now for so many years with no solution in sight, the intervention by the UN must be welcomed by all those who seek an end to forced disappearances. This is especially so in light of the problems that have risen in Balochistan as a result of this. It is true that abuses and atrocities also take place elsewhere in the world, but we must concentrate on ending them in our own country and mustering all the force we can to achieve this.

Counting the cost

September 23, 2012

As life returns to whatever passes for normality in a country where normality is ill-defined, the cost of the rioting on Friday is beginning to become clearer. Also clearer is the reality that out of a country of over 180 million people the numbers engaged in processions on Friday was, by proportion, small. A leading current affairs magazine puts the numbers involved at 45,000 and the rioters among them would, then, have to be even smaller in number. If the estimation is correct, these people have caused damage disproportionate to their numbers. It may be inferred that they were not representative of the views of the population as a whole, and that the crowds would have been far bigger and the destruction more widespread were that the case. The majority on the streets were there under the flags of religious parties and “banned” groups. The country then was in thrall to, and at the mercy of, a minority of extremists.

Also of note was the failure of the forces of law and order to protect lives and property. There was no attempt by police and the Rangers to keep rioters away from cinemas, banks, hospitals and fast food outlets and the reasonable conclusion is that there had been a decision to allow them their head, no matter what. There are reports that wine shops in Karachi were looted – looted, as in their stock taken away rather than smashed. It is unlikely to be a coincidence that so many cinemas were destroyed. One of the signature positions of extremist groups is their opposition to music, song and dance – and if there is one thing that cinemas represent it is all three. The bitter lesson of Friday 21st September 2012 is that control of the state that day seemed to have passed from elected representatives to an unrepresentative rabble that became powerful both by design and default. Extremism prevailed, and the state showed itself powerless and complicit in its own destruction.

Rains

September 23, 2012

Rain havoc has spread its ugly tentacles across the country. Sindh and Balochistan are the worst hit provinces, with over a million rendered homeless in these two provinces alone. In Balochistan, notably in Naseerabad and Jaffarabad districts, water pouring down hillsides with great force has further damaged people’s homes and land. These torrents have also entered adjacent districts of Sindh. Jacobabad, Kashmore and Khairpur are reported to be among the worst hit areas where water has covered huge areas with people stranded in their homes and villages. It does not appear they were given any warnings to evacuate – but even when these warnings are issued, people often feel unable to obey them, unwilling to leave houses, lands and possessions. Stories from the past also state they are sometimes uncertain about where to go.

The government has announced Rs2 billion aid for Sindh. Humanitarian agencies are also stated to be moving into action and rescue and relief efforts are now underway. However, there is a serious shortage of funds. Tales of fund wastage means fewer are willing to give, spelling even more misery for people. There are already disturbing reports of hunger and disease striking communities, of children dying and other equally horrific incidents that we must hope prove not to be the tip of a far larger iceberg. There are also reports that those living in the affected areas have even now not received much by way of government help. Sindh has yet to recover from the 2011 flood disaster and this new deluge is set to only add to the troubles of those who had already lost everything. Punjab has also not been spared by the rain havoc; earlier this month, heavy flooding had occurred in southern parts of the Punjab, hitting Rajanpur and briefly threatening nuclear facilities in Dera Ghazi Khan. Other areas hit by the latest spell of rain include Narowal, Faisalabad and even AJK. We do not know what the final results will be as rains continue to lash various parts of the country with ferocious intensity, bringing fear and wreaking havoc. Though we have come to expect little from our governments in times of natural disasters and relief efforts, we still hope the federal and all provincial governments will step up their relief efforts, instead of mainly relying on humanitarian agencies and NGOs to do their work for them.

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

Not yet

September 24, 2012

Even as protests against the anti-Islam film raged across Pakistan and demonstrators’ angry chants against the filmmaker persistently mixed with cries against the United States, the US Senate on Saturday overwhelmingly defeated a bill that would have denied US aid to Pakistan till the release of imprisoned Pakistani doctor, Shakil Afridi, who helped track Osama bin Laden in Pakistan by running a fake vaccination drive for the CIA. The move came only days after the Foreign Office had summoned the acting US ambassador and handed him a demarche demanding that the blasphemous film be removed from YouTube. Eighty-one senators opposed Republican Senator Rand Paul’s bill and 10 supported it; indeed, the bill was opposed even by senators from Paul’s own Republican Party. The defeat of the bill is at least one substantive and substantial meaningful measure of the fact that things between the US and Pakistan are not irreversibly bad.

US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, just recently completed a two-day visit to Islamabad while Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar also concluded a four-day trip to Washington. This Saturday, the US Senate finally confirmed as ambassador to Pakistan, Rick Olson, a 30-year veteran of the State Department who was envoy to the United Arab Emirates between 2008 and 2011, and whose appointment is aimed at turning a page in diplomatic relations with Islamabad. Certainly, the United States’ heavy reliance on the land route through Pakistan is not about to disappear. And even while the Afghan pullout may throw up new policy options, President Obama does not have all the levers he expects. The defeat of the bill comes after the recent anti-US protests. Indeed, at this delicate moment, does the US really want to wield the stick and risk making Pakistan’s elite and incensed public even less cooperative? If anything, right now is the time to convince the Pakistanis that the good guys on the US side don’t just want to use Pakistan for immediate security needs but also have a long-term vision. On the other hand, even the more pessimistic explanation – that the US has decided that Pakistan will become a big ‘problem area’ in the next phase, post the Afghan war – would require the US to continue to have some kind of relationship with Pakistan in order to manage the differences. Isolating Pakistan is not an option; neither is slashing military and civilian assistance, severing intelligence cooperation, escalating drone strikes, initiating unilateral cross-border raids or even declaring Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism and imposing sanctions on it. True, Pakistan and the US may be trapped in a bad marriage, but circumstances keep them tied to each other and hence no messy divorce is on the horizon – yet.

A rising tide

September 24, 2012

It would be a grave mistake to assume that religious intolerance, something we see every day in a variety of manifestations in Pakistan, is in any way Muslim-specific – and there is now clear evidence that it is not. Religious intolerance is on the rise globally, is present in long-established democracies as well as autocracies and theocracies, and in the developed as well as the developing or undeveloped world. On Thursday last week, the Pew Research Centre published the conclusions of a survey of 197 countries identifying a sharp rise in religious limits globally and a 6 percent increase on religious restrictions in the four years up to 2010. This is not a phenomenon that has suddenly emerged; it has been developing over many years and is worldwide, across faiths and cultures. The sharpest rise in intolerance – 63 percent – is recorded between mid-2009 and mid-2010 in the number of countries that increased government restrictions. The harassment of specific religious groups occurring in individual countries rose from 147 in mid-2009 to 160 in mid-2010.

The countries where intolerance and religious discrimination are on the rise may surprise some. The UK is noted for its rise in ‘social hostility,’ which is now ranked as ‘high’ and on government restrictions it is ranked as ‘moderate’. The rise is visible in anti-Semitic incidents, anti-Muslim sentiments, honour killings, issues within the Muslim community itself and Christians’ resentment of the secularisation of daily life. Other countries recording a significant increase in religious intolerance for the first time include the US. The sharpest rise once again was in the ‘social hostilities index’ driven by religious groups that had been unable to get permission to build new or expand existing places of worship, and the ban on Sharia law in some states. It is not just Muslims who faced restrictions on the practice of their faith. Nigeria has seen increasing attacks on Christians; Indonesia has seen the forced closure of dozens of churches by Islamists; and Switzerland has banned the construction of minarets. Minority faiths are under pressure everywhere from the majority that surrounds them – our own Kalash people come to mind – and this rise in discrimination comes at a time when there is an increase worldwide in people who express some sort of religious adherence. Christians were harassed by government officials and organisations in 95 countries, while Muslims were more likely to be harassed by the same entities in 74 countries. The depth of detail is such and the breadth of the survey so wide that there can be little doubt as to its veracity. The world is increasingly polarised and fractured along the fault-lines of faith. It is easy to lose sight of our own place in the global picture, but clearly we are not alone in our intolerances. This in no way excuses them, but it does contextualise them.

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

Another ‘package’

September 25, 2012

On September 9, floods washed away 90 percent areas in the Naseerabad and Jaffarabad districts of Balochistan, affecting 1.3 million acres of agro-land and causing a loss of about Rs18 billion to farmers and growers. The irrigation system was also badly affected because two main canals and their distributaries irrigating millions of acres of land were left in a shambles. For two weeks after the torrential rains brought ruin to the region, around 0.1 million victims sat under the open sky, taking refuge on the banks of the Rabi and Pat Feeder canals, waiting for assistance. Despite the top district official’s claim that 90 percent of the area had indeed been washed away, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority took 11 days to declare an emergency because it didn’t have the assessment report from the district government. In essence, the flood victims of Balochistan were left trapped between the rigidity of the bureaucracy and the callousness of an inefficient provincial government. Now, finally, there may be some good news: the prime minister has announced a package of Rs2.6 billion for the rehabilitation of the people and the rebuilding of the infrastructure of the province, as well as Rs400,000 each for families of those who have perished in the floods.

Positive news as this may be, we know that the mere allocation of money is never enough, especially in Balochistan. Despite the best of intentions and the loftiest of announcements, official indifference and irregularities in the aid distribution mechanism have combined to ensure that the affected see very little of the funds allocated for them. Few relief items arrive, ending up in the hands of a few influential people. Local politicians have been known to intervene in the dispensation of relief goods and unjustifiably allocate them to voters and close relatives. What is needed, thus, is not just the announcement of hefty aid packages but also the systematic streamlining of the aid distribution mechanism to prevent it from falling victim to cronyism, corruption and mismanagement. Most importantly, the provincial government needs to be made to give up its parochial, greedy ways. For instance, even in the face of the recent devastation in Balochistan, the provincial government blocked the collection and distribution of supplies by NGOs in what was seen as an attempt to grab hold of the funds and supplies provided by international and national aid agencies. While this tug-of-war between the provincial government and NGOs went on, the miserable, broken people of Balochistan were left to fend for themselves. Also take the example of the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan package, which promised the moon when it was first announced in November 2009 but whose implementation has been severely hampered by bureaucratic red tape and severe lethargy at the political end. At the end of the day, what is missing in Balochistan is honesty of purpose. The federal and provincial governments must both demonstrate that their words of support are indeed supported by tangible action on the ground, and hence convince the Baloch that they are also equal and precious citizens of this blighted country.

Poverty pictured

September 25, 2012

The incumbent government has always been shy of publishing precise figures for the actual levels of poverty in Pakistan. The linkage between an unpopular government and its failure to reduce poverty is not an election winner, but on Monday a detailed report was published on just how poor we are. The picture that emerges is that there is no uniformity about poverty in Pakistan, and that rural Pakistan is a far poorer place than urban Pakistan. There is no uniformity across the provinces either, and as much as this is a picture of poverty, the report by the Sustainable Development Poverty Institute (SDPI) is also a picture of relative wealth. Fuel prices are universal in their application, and yesterday’s rises are going to hit the rich and the poor equally, but the impact of the rises will not be proportional with the poor less able to absorb the increase than the less poor.

One third of our population live below the poverty line – 58.7 million people – and 21 percent of all households fall into the category of ‘extremely poor’. One-third of rural households are extremely poor compared to only eight percent of urban households, a startling disparity and as clear a reason as any as to why the countryside is becoming depopulated by the flight to the cities. Unsurprisingly, Balochistan is the most poverty-stricken of the provinces. More than half of all households – 52 percent – live in extreme poverty, the most severe of the indices. Poverty in KPK and Sindh stands at 32 and 33 percent, reflective of the national average. Punjab is the least poor and thus, by definition, also the richest of the provinces with 19 percent of households living at or below the poverty line. Even within the provinces there are wide variations. Lower Punjab is poorer than upper Punjab, but is not rated as in ‘extreme’ poverty. Kohistan is the poorest district in the entire country – 89 percent in extreme poverty. Jhelum has only three percent of households living in any degree of poverty. Poverty is thus a patchwork of deprivation; it is not equally spread across the country and presents the greatest challenge to the poorest provinces. Unequal resource allocation means that mechanisms to reduce poverty, none of which are cost free, do not ‘trickle down’ to where they are most needed and the cities are growing at an unsustainable rate. The SDPI report could be a useful planning tool when devising poverty reduction strategies, but that will depend on whether the federal and provincial governments accept the reality of some uncomfortable figures. A strong political will has to play the decisive part for even the slightest improvement in the situation.

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

Drone damage

September 26, 2012

After nine months of research and more than 130 interviews, in what is being called one of the most exhaustive attempts by academics to evaluate Washington’s drone wars, the Stanford and New York universities’ law schools have finally put out a damning report. According to the new study, just one in fifty victims of the CIA programme of “targeted” drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas are known militants, while between 2,562 and 3,325 people were killed in Pakistan between June 2004 and mid-September this year – of whom between 474 and 881 were civilians, including 176 children. Based on these and other figures, the report calls the strikes politically counterproductive and damaging, concluding they have killed innocent civilians, ruined the local economy, undermined respect for international law and left the people of the tribal areas psychologically battered, constantly living under the daily threat of annihilation from the air. The report especially focuses on children becoming collateral damage of strikes, and comes down particularly hard on the common tactic of the “double-tap” strike where initial strikes are followed up by further missiles, killing an even greater number of civilians, and putting fear into the hearts of rescuers who often wait for hours before daring to visit the scene of an attack.

There is no doubt that this meticulous report will go a long way in challenging the dominant narrative about the use of drones in Pakistan and elsewhere. Indeed, an important aspect it highlights is precisely how difficult is it to obtain accurate data on casualties given US efforts to shield the drone programme from democratic accountability, and its failure to ensure basic transparency and accountability in targeted killings or provide details about the programme. The lack of transparency is compounded by the fact that the areas targeted by drones are under military and militant control, making access difficult for local as well as foreign journalists and thus allowing civilians killed by drones to become ‘invisible dead.’ But after the release of this damning report, will anything change? Will the Obama administration relent in carrying out this controversial campaign of death? Many hope that it may just – especially if the report has an impact on the American public. Coming from American lawyers rather than Pakistani human rights groups, the criticism is likely to resonate a lot more in US domestic debates over the legality of drone warfare. As Reprieve’s director, Clive Stafford Smith, said: “George Bush wanted to create a global ‘war on terror’ without borders, but it has taken Obama’s drone war to achieve his dream.” But Obama’s dream seems to have become Pakistan’s nightmare and it may just be time for the US to wake up from its delusion once and for all.

Bilour’s outburst

September 26, 2012

Railways Minister and ANP leader Ghulam Ahmed Bilour probably had no intention of putting his foot in his mouth when he offered a bounty on the head of the man who made the blasphemous film; but he most assuredly did. What he and other politicians who speak in front of cameras, on the record, need to understand is that they are not just speaking to Pakistan, they are speaking to the world which may not appreciate the finer points of our street-corner politics. Whilst his remarks may be lauded by some in his close proximity, the reaction of the government in distancing itself from them is a clear indicator of an awareness of their toxicity and potential to cause damage. Damage comes in a number of forms in this matter. There is the personal damage – he may not find it so easy to get a visa for the UK where he is reportedly a frequent visitor; and there is the global damage done to the image of Pakistan and, by extension, the wrong perceptions of Islam as a religion of violence. No matter what the degree of affront, Bilour is a member of the government and leader of a large ‘secular’ political party. Men in such positions need to act and speak with the gravitas and dignity that goes with public office.

The timing could not have been worse either. President Zardari is attending the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, so is Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and Ambassador Sherry Rehman. The US State Department has condemned the remarks as ‘inflammatory and inappropriate’ and they now lie as caltrops on the road our leaders and diplomatic representatives have to tread in New York. Remarks made in the heat of the moment in Pakistan travel around the global village in seconds, and Bliour has done nothing to enhance our profile anywhere in the world. The urbane sophistication of our representatives at the UNGA will be contrasted with the crudeness of Bilour’s call to kill. Think before you open your mouth next time, Mr Bilour.

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