Saturday, August 17, 2013

For five hours on Thursday a man named Sikandar, who was clearly suffering from a mental illness, paralysed the centre of Islamabad – not very far from the capital’s ‘Red Zone’. He had a car, a wife, two guns, two children, and a powerful desire to commit suicide-by-police. He kept sending his wife out with notepad and pen to conduct negotiations, putting forward demands that really meant nothing at all. That the police did not oblige him was probably more by chance than design and he remains in hospital in serious condition. ‘Instant analysis’ as the incident unfolded spoke sweepingly of the failure of this or that agency and department and much of the electronic media managed to plumb depths of abyssal magnitude. Although Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan took full responsibility of the decision on Friday not to shoot at the man and promised that senior police heads will roll for lapses, what became clear is that our law-enforcement agencies were confused, ill-equipped and ill-prepared to deal with this kind of threat from an individual. No one seemed to know what to do for a very long time. There appeared to be no negotiator trained to handle somebody who was mentally ill rather than a terrorist. Amidst all the fumbling and chaos, the government, specifically the interior ministry and/or the interior minister, appeared to be absent, although the minister has strongly claimed that he was in touch all the time. A good opportunity to display a lead, give clear directions and take decisive action has obviously been lost and graciously Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan admits it. The assertions of the interior minister that Islamabad was not paralysed will, however, be taken with a pinch of salt. If there is anyone approaching a hero in the sorry saga it is SSP Operations Dr Rizwan, who kept a cool head when others around him seemed to be losing theirs or appeared to have none, even though the wisdom of approaching the mad man unarmed and unprotected and talking to him has to be questioned. But for the most part Rizwan appeared to have been left alone in a highly explosive and volatile situation. There was little apparent effort by the media to limit itself and at one point there was the spectacle of the media attempting to negotiate with the man by telephone. Rightly so, the government has pointed this out and offered to discuss the issue with media owners.
The entire affair, from small beginnings to dramatic end, was a shambles. The manner in which Sikandar the gunman was eventually captured was, at best, absurd. PPP politician Zamurad Khan had no business to act as he did. His intervention certainly violated every kind of security protocol as well as the rules of common reason and itself points to the catalogue of failures at every level. He may have displayed individual courage but his was an act of monumental folly which could have easily triggered a bloodbath. It was fortunate that it did not, also because Sikandar did not really react in the manner he might well have. Further folly was in evidence in that once the man had been taken down the police started sustained aerial firing. What goes up must come down, the area was crowded (where were crowd-control measures when the whole affair had become a family attraction soon after it began?) and the potential for collateral damage huge. We now know that the police were unsure whether there was a bomb in the vehicle. If that was the case, why were the public not moved back to a safe distance? The man was also beaten by the police after being gravely wounded and before being taken away – a lapse of discipline, surely. There were numerous missed opportunities to take the man down using non-lethal munitions, the two children were named and no attempt was made by the media to cut away or mask their identity when their faces were visible. One private channel did at least display the ‘PG’ symbol on the top right of the screen when showing live shots – indicating that parental guidance was advisable and the viewing may not be suitable for children.
The episode was in many ways an aberration and we have seen few like it. But it does raise innumerable questions about the ability and capacity of the police in Islamabad to effectively manage a major incident such as this. Our security setup must consider its weaknesses and find ways of plugging them. A protocol needs to be devised to deal with this kind of madness from a single disturbed individual and ways put in place to deal with it. The incident raised an equal number of questions about the ethics of reporting what is undoubtedly a human-interest story in a way that is both factual and respectful of the rights and dignity of those caught up in it. What happened was a fine example of how-not-to-do it by virtually all concerned. We hope it is not a blueprint for future similar events.

This year’s monsoon rains have fallen hard through August, and in some parts of the country scenes reminiscent of the devastating floods of 2010, which swept away the lands and livelihoods of tens of thousands of people, are already being witnessed. Considering the havoc already caused, the forecast for more rains over the next week is not at all encouraging. Indeed it is distinctly disturbing when we consider the number of people hit by the floods which have so far most adversely affected Punjab and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where rains caused flash floods. According to figures from the National Disaster Management Authority, nearly 100,000 people have been affected. Over one hundred people have lost their lives and over 2,000 houses destroyed. Many others have been damaged, with the figures still being compiled. The latest spell of rains in Punjab created havoc in the Narowal district, where a hundred villages are reported to have been inundated. Flood in the Chenab and Sutlej rivers, as well as in various drainage channels, also caused water to cover vast tracts of land.
It is only now that our representatives seem to be gearing up for action. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, normally one of the most responsive politicians around, finally visited the flood-hit areas of Sialkot and Narowal where he directed authorities to provide food, medicines and transportation to all those whose lives have been devastated by the floods. The chief minister also announced Rs500,000 in compensation for all those who had lost loved ones in the flooding; he also ordered the immediate opening of all land routes that had been made inaccessible The chief minister reprimanded Sialkot’s district coordination officer, the commissioner of Gujranwala and other officials after 85 villages in Sialkot district were cut off leaving people marooned and others flooded by water three to four feet deep. Sheikhupura and Gujranwala have also suffered. It should be noted that after devolution under 18th Amendment introduced by the previous government, responsibility for flood control and relief lies with district administrations. Their capacity to manage this is now being put to the test. It is clear too that desperate people are badly in need of help. While international agencies have begun efforts, the crisis is still far from being under control. Questions are once more being raised over our state of disaster readiness and over whether more could have been done to avert the suffering we are seeing now. As welcome as it is that CM Shahbaz Sharif has decided to take matters into his own hands, there will likely be an inordinate delay as various government officials try to put his words into action. An example was seen on Saturday when the prime minister visited a relief camp and as soon as he had left, it was folded with people protesting. What we need far more than another saviour politician is a plan for dealing with the flooding that invariably hits us every summer. This is now the fourth year in a row that so many people have died in flooding, but the authorities seem no more prepared than before.
The longer term consequences of this disaster also need to be considered and planned for. The ‘kharif’ crop, traditionally harvested in autumn, standing over some 78,000 acres of land in Punjab is stated to have been damaged. Both the cotton and rice crops are said to have suffered. This could have an adverse impact on the economy and on food security, and we need to calculate what may need to be done in the weeks ahead, even if for now focus remains on saving people, preventing agricultural loss and taking measures to safeguard ourselves against the hazards that may lie ahead – especially disease as standing water grows stagnant in villages, towns and cities. Over the next couple of days, more heavy rainfall is forecast for the Gujranwala, Lahore and Kashmir divisions. It is most likely too late to do anything about the inevitable damage it will cause but we should always have evacuation plans ready and relief packages at hand to immediately deliver to those in need. Army personnel should also be available in case we need to airlift people out or provide relief packages to the flood-affected areas. And then, as soon as this summer’s monsoon has passed, the federal government has to finally tackle the problem of flooding in a way that does not consist of piecemeal moves and reactive plans. We need to build the capacity of our dams so that they do not overflow and ensure that all houses in areas that are prone to flooding do not violate building codes. Drills should be in place to help people out as soon as the floods hit but these need to be prepared and practised months in advance. We cannot continue as we have done and ignore the problem for 11 months of the year and then act surprised when the damage caused by flooding is so great.

Monday, August 19, 2013

It has been more than 10 years since the government approved a master plan to develop the Gwadar Port but the progress made in that time has been scant and beset by corruption and violence. We initially relied on Singapore to help get the project off the ground and are now relying solely on China to finally realise the Gwadar dream. Port concessions were given to China by the last government in the hope that it would spur our neighbour into speedily tackling the development task. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has also made Gwadar a priority, making it a focus of his recent visit to China – his very first foreign trip as prime minister. Now, as part of the proposed Pak-China Economic Corridor, Nawaz Sharif has approved the construction of a road linking Gwadar to China. The announcement is both needed but also premature. Until the port is developed and functioning and Gwadar has become an important trade hub, there is little need for this road. At the same time, we need to do everything we can to bind China into the Gwadar project since they have been reluctant to do so. The issue is primarily one of law and order, with Baloch separatists having killed Chinese workers before and made threats against anyone working in Gwadar.
Nawaz Sharif may have made the calculation that having Gwadar operational and successful will be a vital tool in quelling the Baloch insurgency because of the economic riches it will bring to the province. He has it the wrong way round. Until the separatists are pacified or somehow won over, it will be impossible to develop Gwadar. They will sabotage every project and ensure that Gwadar becomes as dangerous as the rest of the province. This is why China has been so reluctant to become involved in Gwadar, despite the fact that the warm-water port would significantly shorten the route for their oil supplies and be open year-round. Just how hesitant China is can be seen by the fact that we have to continually offer them incentives to work with us in Gwadar even though the port will eventually benefit them tremendously. With or without Chinese support, we have staked our economic future on Gwadar and so must continue with it. Nawaz Sharif will have to undo the many mistakes of the Musharraf regime which, thanks to favouritism in handing out contracts, gross inefficiency and reigniting the Baloch separatists, has made the Gwadar dream as distant as ever.



A new controversy has arisen concerning the housing census conducted by the PPP government in 2010. This survey has now become redundant as a population survey – as is required under the law – was not carried out within a year of this exercise. With over three years having elapsed since the survey, a new exercise involving a simultaneously conducted housing census and a population census will need to be done by the current government. Costs of billions of rupees are involved as well as the other complications that arise from a census. One of these is that a census is required before the local bodies polls. The Supreme Court had set September 15 as the date when these were to be completed – a target that seems impossible to meet.
We need a population census as conducting governance without proper demographics is an exercise in absurdity. The last one was held in 1998, more than a decade and a half ago. The matter is to be put by the government before the Council of Common Interests. A precise methodology and formula for carrying out the census is also required. This is especially important as the results of the 2010 housing survey, and also those of the 1998 census, were disputed. Due to a variety of factors, including the number of seats in the assemblies, demographic data is a delicate matter in our country. Ethnic tensions add to the problems. The conduct of the surveys will therefore not be an easy matter. But at the same time it is important that this task be completed. It is unfortunate that this did not happen in 2010, wasting both resources and time. If a census, required for many different reasons, is to be carried out successfully, consensus needs to be built with political parties and other groups so that the results are acceptable to as many as possible. The last thing we need at this moment is further friction of any kind, and the PML-N leadership will need to show due sagacity in going about a task that is necessary both constitutionally and practically, to ensure that matters of state, big and small, can keep moving on. And this is virtually impossible in the absence of a reliable census.



A report by the Sindh government’s Planning and Development Department, discussed at the forums of NGOs and humanitarian agencies through last month as the issue of providing sufficient nutrition to people was discussed, states that 71 percent of households in Sindh are food-insecure. Severe food shortages exist in 17 percent of these homes. This is despite the fact that the province has 17 million acres of land under crop cultivation. Experts say that “lack of access” to food is a key reason for the findings on hunger, which also show that just under 50 percent of children are stunted – or failing to reach the expected height for age and nearly 17 percent wasted, or failing to reach the expected weight for age. The findings are obviously grim, and depict the kind of lives too many people in our country lead. While poverty, as would be expected, is linked to the rates of malnutrition, stunting is found even in relatively wealthy homes – apparently as a result of poor choices of food consumed within families.
This problem is one that is not discussed too often, certainly not as often as issues such as militancy, law and order and illiteracy. But of course, it has a drastic impact on the lives of people, especially women who have been found to suffer the most severe effects of malnutrition linked also to multiple pregnancies and a lack of proper care during them. We need to take note of these realities. They have come up again and again, year after year. In Sindh, little has changed over the last decade or so. It is a good sign that the provincial government has chosen to discuss this with international agencies and is trying to devise a strategy. But perhaps all of us need to be more involved in understanding the state in which many of our people live and asking what has been done to mitigate their problems.

In his first address to the nation since taking over as prime minister, Nawaz Sharif decided to be the purveyor of bad news. The role of pessimist-in-chief is one that badly needed to be filled, so dire are the problems we now face. The initial focus of the speech was, understandably, the power crisis and resultant loadshedding. Here, in a refreshing departure from the ludicrous promises of the previous government that loadshedding would end soon, Nawaz Sharif gave us a much-needed reality check. He diagnosed the problems of circular debt, power theft and the refusal of many to pay their bills but did not claim that the problems would be solved overnight. In a rare case of a politician not talking down to us and being honest about the scale of the problem, the prime minister said that even if the circular debt was eliminated, we would still need to produce more power. Increasing capacity for coal-based power, he said, would take three to four years and that of water at least eight to ten years. Nawaz Sharif was similarly candid about the state of the rest of the economy, reserving particular scorn for state enterprises. He pointed out that the losses from state corporations amounted to Rs2.5 trillion in the last five years, and singled out PIA and Pakistan Railways for their poor performance, which may be seen as an indication of his privatisation priorities.
The prime minister appeared just as clear-headed about the problem of terrorism. He pointed out that fear had pervaded everyone, from law-enforcement agencies to the courts to witnesses. This, once again, was a shift from the previous government which always sought to paint as rosy a picture as possible. He left possible solutions up in the air, saying that the state was willing to take part in talks but would also use force whenever needed. Linking the problem of terrorism to our foreign policy, including relations with India with whom he claimed we have engaged in “useless wars”, was a bold move which reiterated the prime minister’s commitment to peace with our neighbours. Sharif lashed out against drones as an infringement of Pakistan’s sovereignty but did not quite say what he intended to do about them. On Balochistan too he repeated the standard mantra of needed development, saying there would be no further indifference to the problems of Balochistan and that the provincial government would be helped in resolving these. But he fell short of suggesting any new ways to tackle the problem. Also, on Karachi the prime minister had little to add on the law-and-order situation beyond suggesting his pet projects of motorways and railways. But for the most part, in a maiden speech that was surprisingly sober and thoughtful, Nawaz Sharif has shown rare maturity. There were no earth-shaking revelations but he appeared to have brought with him a new sincerity and a new sense of commitment. The real test for Sharif, however, comes now. His words of August 19 will be replayed many times in minds, and no doubt on television screens, in the years to come as we all look back to see if he can deliver on what he has pledged. If he is able to fulfill even some of the commitments made, Pakistan can truly hope to set out in a new direction.



The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information Ordinance 2013, promulgated by the provincial PTI government, is a complex piece of legislation which will require time to properly analyse and digest. And, as with all such laws, good intentions will not be enough and will have to be followed by effective implementation. These caveats aside, the law is a good one since it seeks to provide citizens with the right to know what their elected representatives are up to and it also answers critics who claimed that the PTI was interested only in high-flying rhetoric and not the unglamorous hard work of governance. The law is similar to the freedom of information acts found in most democracies, where ordinary citizens have the right to demand information from their government and the expectation that it will be released within a reasonable time period. In the case of this law, within four months designated officers will have to be appointed and the public can approach them to request documents. The designated officers will then have to give a reply within ten working days. As anyone who has visited musty government offices where civil servants seem to be on permanent tea breaks and the required information can never be found amidst clutters of registers knows, turning this law into a workable reality will require changing the culture of our hidebound bureaucracy.
Even more hearteningly, the Right to Information Ordinance recognises that the government will always have the incentive to hide information which portrays it in a negative light. Thus it has introduced, for the first time in the country, protection for future whistleblowers. Now, a person with a conscience who uncovers wrongdoing within the government can invoke this law in front of a tribunal or a court to protect his job. The key to making this law work is spreading public awareness about its existence. It is only when people in Khyber Pakthunkhwa know that they have the right to demand information from their government that they will actually begin doing so. Media and civil society organisations also have a huge rule to play as they can repeatedly file requests for information and then report on any malfeasance they discover. We should realise that gathering all these recordings and making them available online will likely take longer than the PTI is optimistically predicting but at least it has taken the first step in showing that its talk of transparency was not just an electioneering ploy.

The controversy over the local government law goes back to the passage of the Sindh People’s Local Government Ordinance almost a year ago, directly as a result of MQM pressure. The SPLGO was fiercely opposed even by some of the PPP’s own legislators, and also on the streets, most fiercely by Sindhi nationalist groups. Under that law, city district governments would have been restored in Sindh’s urban centres. The SPLGO was repealed almost immediately after the MQM quit its alliance with the PPP and that party’s efforts to have it restored have met with no success. Now the passage of the Sindh Local Government Bill 2013, which was needed to comply with Supreme Court directives to hold local bodies elections in September, has not been without controversy. The MQM has strongly opposed the bill as was passed by the PPP with help from the PML-F and PML-N. Among the complaints the MQM has about the bill is that it is modelled on the 1979 local bodies legislation passed by the Ziaul Haq government. But the MQM has missed one crucial difference: Ziaul Haq sought to marginalise political parties, and this legislation calls for party-based polls. The MQM’s chief concern, now that is in the opposition, is that it will not get enough power in its stronghold of Karachi. The party would have preferred that more powers of taxation be devolved to the local level, particularly property and vehicle taxes. The problem with including this provision in the bill is that wealth is unequally distributed across the province and if Karachi got to keep all the money that was raised there through taxation these inequities would become even starker. For the good of the province as a whole, it is necessary for the provincial government to still retain the bulk of tax revenue.
One of the reasons the local bodies elections haven’t been held in Sindh since 2002 was the erstwhile coalition government formed by the PPP and MQM. The two parties could never come to an agreement about the local bodies setup, with the MQM fearing too much power would be given to the bureaucracy. Now, however, the PPP does not need the MQM to govern in Sindh and with the Supreme Court verdict this legislation needed to be passed speedily. The differences between the PPP and MQM reflect their divergent power bases of rural and urban Sindh, respectively. As such, this is likely only the first one of many tussles in Sindh over the next five years, despite whatever give and take we may see on this and other issues. We were in a period of stasis during the last government since the PPP could not function without the MQM thus essentially giving them veto power over legislation. The MQM is now in a weaker position. Even though it opposes the local government bill it will have no choice but to participate in the polls since a boycott would only end up hurting the party and reducing its power in urban Sindh. The bill may be imperfect and its merits and demerits will become clear over the coming few months and years once governments have been elected under it and begin working both in cities and in rural areas. But what is important for now is that the province has a working law and that this has been passed without as much acrimony as some would have predicted. Sindh is now well set for the local bodies polls, the results of which will be relevant to the politics of the province as will be the functioning of the new system. It will also be important to see how differences pan out in the future given that what we need right now is political harmony rather than a growing divide.



The first possible tussle between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Asif Zardari may be over the five-year moratorium that the PPP government introduced on carrying out the death penalty. It is believed that the prime minister wants to reintroduce capital punishment but the presidency, though largely toothless, still retains the power to pardon prisoners or commute any sentence. For now, Nawaz Sharif has thus had to back down on the issue, at least till September 8 when president-elect Mamnoon Hussain takes office. As a result, the scheduled execution of two LeJ militants will now be postponed. There are some who believe that PM Nawaz Sharif only agreed to continue the moratorium because of threats from militant groups over the execution of their men but this seems to be a simple case of the president holding all the cards. Although the PML-N will soon have the power to decide whether it wants to bring back the death penalty, the government should ponder the issue before coming to a final decision. Our justice system right now is so flawed that carrying out an irreversible punishment seems morally untenable. A life spent rotting in prison is no picnic but at least the government can then correct the invariable mistakes that creep in.
The main argument presented in favour of the death penalty in Pakistan is that it will be the most effective deterrent against terrorists. This, however, does not hold up to scrutiny. As we see on a nearly daily basis, militants have so widely embraced the cult of death that they were willing to blow themselves up. It is not clear how the prospect of the hangman will deter such people from their suicidal mission. In cases other than those of terrorism, the death penalty is not always handed down equitably. The richer a convicted murderer is the more likely he is to escape the gallows. On top of that, our policing techniques are not advanced enough to ensure that all convictions are just and the use of DNA testing, which has exonerated countless people around the world, has not yet been widely accepted and used in the country. There are moral arguments to be made against doing away with capital punishment even when we are certain that all convictions are correct but until we reach that stage there is simply no question that the death penalty moratorium should continue.

Today’s by-elections, with 16 National Assembly and 26 provincial seats up for grabs, will not significantly change the strength of the assemblies but will serve as referenda on the major political parties. The PML-N and the PTI, in particular, will see the by-polls as indicators of their current standing. For the PTI, the by-elections come as a chance to vindicate the noise the party has made about alleged rigging. Even now, despite the PML-N landslide, the PTI still believes that it should have been victorious, to the point where its chief Imran Khan is facing contempt of court charges for dragging the Supreme Court into its rigging conspiracy theories. The PTI has also issued a White Paper on the May 11 rigging just on the eve of the by-polls. While there may have been some rigging, it certainly wouldn’t have been enough to change the outcome of the election but if the PTI does better than expected in the by-elections it will claim vindication. There are three seats in particular that will show the health of the PTI. The two seats in Peshawar and Mianwali which Imran Khan vacated and the Islamabad seat that was originally won by Javed Hashmi will indicate if the PTI has bench strength or if it is overly reliant on its senior-most leader. In Punjab, the PTI is expected to once again be bested by the PML-N, especially after its candidate Ayla Malik was disqualified from the Mianwali seat. In fact, the results all over Punjab will probably show whether three months into its rule, the PML-N has suffered any loss of popularity – if any.
These elections are also yet another demonstration of how politics in Pakistan is still practised as much on the basis of family as on party affiliation. All those seats with re-polling because a candidate was disqualified for a fake degree are now being contested by family members of the ineligible candidates. Meanwhile, in Sindh there are only two seats to be contested, one of which is a safe PML-F constituency, so the PPP is not expected to be much of a factor in the by-elections. The ANP, apart from fielding Ghulam Bilour on the Peshawar seat, has mostly decided to sit the elections out and support the PPP. Ultimately, then, the by-elections will be a battle between the PML-N and the PTI with the former party hoping to show that an increase in electricity prices and indirect taxes has not affected its popularity and the latter trying to prove that its support and organisation is comparable to any other party.



We may be seeing a moment in history. On Tuesday, an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi indicted former president Pervez Musharraf on charges of murder, conspiracy to murder and facilitation of murder in the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Six other persons have also been formally charged, including City Police Officer Saud Aziz. Musharraf has consistently denied he had played any role in Benazir’s death, caused by a massive blast and possibly bullets at the site of her public address in Rawalpindi. He stated this once again in a written statement submitted to the court, saying that he was not at all responsible for providing security to Benazir and had nothing to do with her death.
The case is significant for more reasons than one. In the first place, it is not usual for a former army chief to be put on trial. If he is found guilty, Musharraf faces possible life imprisonment or even the death sentence – although that will be an unlikely outcome given that the murder charge will not be easy to prove. The evidence coming forward could still be extremely interesting. It may help shed light on a matter that has been shrouded in secrecy for too long, with conspiracy theories dominating the discussion. Even now, we do not know who killed Benazir Bhutto. The government of her own party – the PPP – failed completely to solve the most important crime in our recent political history, and at many times seemed to show no interest in doing so either. The reasons for this need to be understood. Various other events such as the murder of the main FIA prosecutor in the case, Chaudhry Zulfiqar in May last year simply added to the sense of uncertainty over the whole matter. We must now hope, with the next date of hearing set for August 27, that some important information will be brought forward. Still more relevant is the fact that this trial will undoubtedly help establish the principle of an even playing field for all, with no discrimination in the pursuit of justice – no matter who the accused may be. Experts also believe that Musharraf’s trial for murder may open the way for charges to be framed against him in other cases – including that of treason – stemming from his takeover in 1999 and his actions under the emergency imposed in 2007. This too would be a ‘first’. The case in Rawalpindi will then be very closely followed and could prove crucial in many ways in the context of the overall history of our nation.


Pakistan has a polio problem and it is not going away. Efforts to defeat the disease have come close to success in past years but have been thwarted by poor security in remote or tribal areas; or in cities where large areas are controlled by extremist gangsters. Negative propaganda claiming that polio vaccine is an attempt to limit the growth of the global Muslim population is believed by many within a credulous population. The blowback from the false-flag operation involving a Pakistani doctor has also created mistrust and unease. Time after time vaccinators are attacked and frequently killed; most of those dead so far in the last year have been women, many of them little more than teenagers.
The news of the start of a three-day polio drive in Mohmand agency is thus welcome but comes with a frisson of unease. This is to be a ‘big push’. The target is to vaccinate 88,185 children using 365 mobile, 39 fixed and 10 transit teams, possibly as many as 2000 people involved at the grassroots. If ever a collective medal for bravery in the face of the enemy was deserved it is for these poorly paid men and women who go out mostly unprotected in the service of humanity. The state has consistently failed to protect them in the past which is why so many have been murdered. Going into the field in the remote and lawless Mohmand agency really is taking your life in your hands, yet it is here in an unvaccinated population that children are most at risk. The polio vaccination team nationwide, not just in Mohmand, put their lives on the line in the service of the state; and the very least the state could do would be to pull out the stops for them security wise. A polio-free Pakistan is not an impossible dream. Protect these unsung heroes and let a dream be turned into reality.

Friday, August 23, 2013

The issues of our power sector are complex, involving irregularities of various kinds. Another one of these became obvious on Wednesday as a Supreme Court bench hearing appeals filed by the Wapda labour union and Habibullah Energy declared the leasing by Wapda of the Lakhra Power Plant for 20 years to a private company as void. The bench declared that the leasing out of the power plant, with a capacity of 150MW, was carried out irregularly, with the transactions lacking in transparency. Other omissions were also detailed during the hearing of the case, with the apex court also stating that the Public Procurement Rules Authority had been violated. The SC’s decision will once again divide those who believe the apex court is going too far in its judicial activism and those who want the letter of the law followed strictly. Here are the facts of the case: in 2006, the lease for the power plant was granted to M/S Associated Power Generation Company despite the fact that it had not been among the original five bidders for the contract. This was done in contravention of all rules and regulations. Reportedly, the deal was rushed through by then prime minister Shaukat Aziz. Even the counsels for both Wapda and the private company admitted that the rules weren’t followed properly for the bidding process but still wanted the lease to be upheld on the grounds that it would undermine investor and business confidence if contracts were to be cancelled after so many years.
This is not a line of reasoning the Supreme Court should follow. The sale of national assets during the Musharraf era was scandalous, with prime assets being doled out to favoured companies at fire-sale prices. The SC had already demonstrated its willingness to root out corruption in such deals by declaring the Rental Power Projects illegal. Ultimately, this approach will prove more beneficial than the course advocated by those who want these shady deals to be upheld so that they don’t scare away potential future buyers. Our economy has been choked by those who seek shortcuts through bribery and influence, undermining the principles of competition and fairness. Since the government cannot be relied upon to police itself, the task falls to the judiciary. Only once we prove that we will not abide by deals that fall afoul of the law will we begin to attract much-need foreign investors. As the Lakhra Power Plant case has shown, even government agencies that should be working for the benefit of taxpayers end up defending such practices, leading the bench to observe that it seemed as if the counsel for Wapda was actually representing the private company. Perhaps the SC ruling in the matter will deliver a warning to all groups to act with greater caution and greater responsibility when entering into agreements. It is obviously vital that the rules laid down for such matters be adhered to and that we avoid the kind of underhand dealing that marked the leasing of Lakhra.


Since Pakistan's title-winning triumph at the 2010 Asian Games in China, it has mostly been bad news as far as the country's hockey team is concerned. But things can get even worse if the Green-shirts continue their poor form and fail to win the eight-nation Asia Cup that gets underway in the Malaysian city of Ipoh tomorrow. In the past, winning or losing the Asia Cup hasn't mattered for Pakistan as much as it matters now. This is because the tournament represents Pakistan's last chance to make the cut for Hockey World Cup 2014 as Asia Cup champions will get a spot on the quadrennial spectacle to be played at The Hague next summer.
Pakistan’s players and coaches have assured the nation that they will return home with the Asia Cup early next month but their promises sound hollow if you consider the national team's below-par showing during the last few seasons. In the recent past, Pakistan has even struggled against lower-ranked teams. Time and again, rivals have laid bare the national team's several weaknesses both in attack and defence in various international events. History is also not on Pakistan's side – not having won the title in 24 years. This year, Pakistan has been bracketed in Pool A with Malaysia, China and Japan but such is the state of the national team that there are no guarantees that it will win all of its league matches to progress to the semi-finals as the number one side from its group. Both its chief rivals – India and South Korea – are in the other group. They are the teams that will have to be beaten in order to win the Asia Cup and qualify for next year's World Cup. Losing is not an option for Pakistan, which – with its four World Cup titles – is one of the most successful nations in hockey's history. Pakistan's players will have to rise to the occasion and regain the Asia Cup.

The first meeting of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) since the Nawaz Sharif government took over came at a fortuitous time. Apart from the constant threat of internal terrorism, Pakistan is facing a particularly vexing national security threat on its eastern border. Accordingly, the Line of Control (LoC) situation was the main focus of the meeting, with the government emphasising that it will continue to exercise restraint and seek a diplomatic solution to the problem even while strongly condemning the latest bout of unprovoked firing. The government has a delicate line to walk here since it is obviously committed to pursuing peace with India but cannot show weakness at a time when India seems determined on belligerence. As the DCC meeting and past statements by both the government and the army have shown, this is also a rare occasion where both the civilian set-up and the military are united on policy. This is an outcome of circumstance as much as ideology since the challenges we face from militancy at home are so draining and all-consuming that hostility against India is simply not in anyone’s interest.
Equally important, and somewhat surprising, was the prime minister’s decision to reconstitute the National Security Council (NSC). For decades now, the NSC has been promoted by the military to formalise its role in the political process. Nawaz Sharif in particular was so opposed to the idea that he forced the resignation of a chief of army staff, Jehangir Karamat, who proposed constituting an NSC. Sharif’s U-turn now will be variously interpreted as a sop to the military or a realisation that the militant threat requires such extraordinary steps. That realisation may be why the meeting, according to some news reports (strongly denied by the Information Minister later), also clarified the government’s stance on negotiations with the TTP. Apparently there will be no talks held with the militants until they are ready to deweaponise. If this is indeed a serious statement of intent rather than a negotiating position, it would seem for now to put a kibosh on talks since the militants have never been willing to lay down their arms. If anything, the TTP and allied groups have only stepped up their campaign of indiscriminate violence since the PML-N government took over. Still the initial reaction of TTP to the talks offer by the PM is somewhat encouraging.But so far we have only words. It is how these words are put into action that will ultimately matter.



The August 22 by-elections showed the value of having an outsize political personality. Without the sheen provided by the star power of Imran Khan, the PTI was unable to hold on to the seats in Peshawar and Mianwali that had been vacated by the party chief. Similarly, the one seat the PML-N could not retain was the one vacated by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. With turnout lower than it was for the general elections, name recognition ended up being a vital factor. The ANP’s Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, a former federal minister and party bigwig, was triumphant in Peshawar’s NA-1 constituency. Bilour’s victory will be seen by many as a just reward for a party that has been singled out as a target by militants and for whom the very act of political campaigning became life-threatening. PTI Senior Vice President Asad Umar, another political figure not lacking public visibility, emerged victorious from Islamabad. Overall, the by-elections were a restatement of public support for the PML-N, with the party holding on to most of its seats and gaining a net margin of three additional National Assembly seats while the PTI’s strength in the National Assembly was reduced by three seats. For the most part, the by-elections were contested by family members of those who had vacated their seats in yet another sign that lineage and family patronage are still determining factors in our politics.
There were fewer accusations of rigging than in the general elections, although once again the PTI did voice some concerns, but the true stain on the polls was the unofficial ban on women voting in some Khyber Pakthunkhwa seats. The problem was severe enough for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to announce re-polling in the Nowshera and Lakki Marwat seats. On a day when three women won general seats to the National Assembly – two from Sindh and one from Punjab – it is unfortunate that the elections will be remembered for excluding women from the polls in one province. Usually it is jirgas that announce the ban but the candidates either support such decisions or lack the courage to speak out about it. To prevent this from being an issue in future elections will require political parties to be decisive and for the ECP to ensure that its polling officers do not restrict the access of women to polling booths. It is difficult to call ourselves a genuine democracy when so many cannot exercise their basic right to choose their representatives. But if this goal can be achieved, it may turn out to be the most important step forward for democracy and women's rights.

The clashes and killings between the supporters of the Sunni Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) and the Shia Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen Pakistan (MWM), in the Bhakkar district on Friday, have led to a district-wide curfew being imposed and a temporary but uneasy calm. This is a troubling reminder of the sectarian riots that shook Punjab in the mid and late 1990s when Sunnis and Shias clashed frequently. This incident will have reverberations that threaten to bring back sectarian violence to Punjab. In recent years – and despite the fact that most anti-Shia militant groups were founded in and continue to operate out of Punjab – the province itself has not witnessed the same kind of violence as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. That could now change. Details of what happened at Bhakkar vary slightly. But it would appear the shootout between the two groups was triggered when a procession of the extremist Ahle Sunnat Wal-Jamaat – the name now adopted by the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan – was passing through a predominately Shia area on its way from Bhakkar to the town of Darya Khan. The ASWJ had called for a strike and processions to protest against the murder of one of its activists. One procession of armed activists took their protest to the Shia area of Kotla Jam. It has been reported the protesters were shot upon, leading to a return of fire. Six persons from either side died instantly, while five others died later in hospital.
The Punjab government will have to be more pro-active if it is to prevent repeats of the Bhakkar clashes through the province. So far, the provincial government’s performance leaves a lot to be desired. Even though the violence in Kotla Jam continued for at least four hours and the Rangers were called in, they did not directly intervene to stop the violence. Instead, law-enforcement officials allowed the violence to play out and then imposed a curfew. What should also be considered at some length is why banned groups remain able to operate. Many, like the SSP, have simply altered their names and continued to function just as they did before. There is a feeling among both Muslim and non-Muslim minorities in the country that the police are not interested in intervening on their behalf. That fear will persist as long as militant groups are allowed to operate unimpeded. As long as the state is seen as a disinterested observer of sectarian crimes people will believe that fighting violence with further violence is their only option. Sectarian incidents then can lead – and have led – to enormous violence in our society and tear it further apart with the state no closer to curbing it than it was to preventing it from happening.



It is highly unfortunate that the matter of women’s right to vote should even be an issue today in our country. But the problem appeared once again during the August 22 by-polls. The results for two constituencies, NA-5 and NA-27, the seats falling in Nowshera and Lakki Marwat respectively, were withheld by the Election Commission of Pakistan and fresh balloting will take place in both these constituencies at a date to be announced shortly. The action came following suo motu notice taken in the matter by the Peshawar High Court, which ordered the ECP to declare the polling there void. The ECP secretary Ishtiak Ahmed Khan has said that action will be taken against those behind the ban. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister has also ordered an inquiry while the PTI chairman has condemned the ban soon after reports began to come in of no voters at the polling booths for women in these as well as other areas. Tribal leaders in Nowshera, whose jirgas had decided to keep women away from the balloting exercise, stood by the move, insisting this was in keeping with ‘tradition’.
It is a welcome development that the PHC and the ECP took swift action in the matter. Women have been denied their right to adult franchise in parts of our country for far too long. The challenge to this state of affairs seen during the May 11 election, when women from Fata not only voted but contested polls for the first time, was heartening. So is the fact that women voters in Lakki Marwat are themselves voicing the demand to be allowed to cast their ballots. This would, in the past, have been unheard of. But we need to see more progress. All political parties must make it clear to their candidates that any agreements excluding women from voting are unacceptable and criminal. It is worth noting that women were, for some time, also prevented from voting in other constituencies – till the ECP warned that polls here would be declared void. These warnings and the action on the two seats should not be necessary. Our goal must be to progress to such a point where women’s right to vote is not even lightly questioned, with all stakeholders playing a part in this.



The release of 337 Indian fishermen by the Pakistani authorities, following an order from the Sindh High Court, is very good news. It puts an end to the suffering of these persons, detained in almost all cases because they accidentally strayed out of their own territorial waters while engaged in an effort to maximise their catch in times when the number of fish in seas off the coast has fallen due to pollution and fishing by larger vessels. We must hope that the freeing of the 337 Indians will persuade officialdom in New Delhi to act in a similar fashion and send home the Pakistani fishermen held in jails across India. According to the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, there are at least 150 Pakistani fishermen that are detained in India – around 60 of them held for over a decade. The PFF also says that there is no confirmation that these fishermen are in Indian jails; they have simply been reported missing. But information indicates that they are behind bars across the border.
In Pakistan, other Indian fishermen too are believed to be behind bars. The confusion over their identity, which has surfaced during the latest releases, only adds to the problems in repatriating these unfortunate persons. Both sides have agreed in the past that a reliable mechanism needs to be worked out to ensure that fishermen are not detained for prolonged periods. This must now be put in place to avoid more people suffering detention away from home.

Death toll due to floods continues to rise. A countless number of people have lost their lives across the country and many more have been injured or fallen ill. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif paid a belated visit to the Sukkur district in Sindh to inspect relief efforts on Saturday. Floods have affected large parts of Punjab and Sindh, but loss of life and property has also been reported in areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. There is shortage of food, drinking water, and sanitation facilities in some camps set up by the government and people live in fear of bandits, who are said to be more powerful than the police. The greatest tragedy comes in the form of displacement of whole communities – leading to even more health and safety issues. While delivery of shelter, food, clean drinking water and healthcare is important and must take priority at this time, an effective management of natural disasters calls for investment in preparedness and post-disaster rehabilitation of affected communities to fully revive them. District administrations and national and provincial disaster management authorities have been duly criticised for their slow response to floods whose warning had become visible days in advance. There is some truth in these assertions, but district administrations barely have the capacity to deal with large-scale disasters, where they have to work on various aspects of relief with the limited staff and resources available to them.
Since monsoon floods are a recurring phenomenon, it is imperative that the government incorporates the lessons learnt each year into future planning. There should be perfect coordination in the respective roles of national and provincial disaster authorities as well as district administrations in flood prone areas. The provincial and national disaster management authorities should invest in planning, training and building networks with civil society to channel philanthropic contributions and volunteer efforts. Relief delivery is essentially a local task and capacity building of municipal administration staff in flood prone districts in dry months can go a long way in effectively handling of the situation when the floods actually hit. In this regard, local bodies can play an important role in a number of ways. Local representatives can organise volunteer efforts for relief, improve government’s contact with people and provide up-to-date information on the extent of damage and the need for relief. In 2010, when one-fifth of the country’s landmass was flooded, the need for local bodies was acutely felt because people had nowhere to go to seek help. Local bodies become all the more important to facilitate rehabilitation of the affected communities, which are usually quickly forgotten. It is hoped that the government will waste no time in holding local government elections and will eventually switch from short-term response to long-term planning for such disasters.




Since coming into power, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has stressed economic solutions as the best path to peace and progress, be it in Karachi or Balochistan. He has paid particular attention to Gwadar, which was all but given up by the PPP government as a lost cause after a host of security-related and development issues cropped up. Now Nawaz Sharif’s plans to revive the moribund port-development project include the development of a Gwadar to China road as part of the proposed Pak-China Economic Corridor. The prime minister is now trying to sweeten the deal by announcing a Gwadar to Kashgar economic corridor. Kashgar is a strategically-important Chinese city since it is located near the border with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Linking it to Gwadar would significantly reduce transportation costs and time since the only route to the city from Pakistan right now is the Karakoram Highway. With Gwadar being only 200 miles from the Straits of Hormuz, the prime conduit for the world’s oil trade, the combination of developing the port city and providing a land route to China would significantly shorten its oil transport chain. In theory, Sharif’s proposals make eminent sense and moving forward on these projects should provide an economic boom to both countries. But there are still significant hurdles to overcome.
There is no challenge greater than that of security. Separatists in Balochistan view Gwadar as yet another attempt by the centre to plunder the province’s resources. There have been cases of Chinese engineers being targeted by separatists in the past, which led to a pull-out of most Chinese workers. So far, Nawaz Sharif has done nothing to convince the people of the province that development in Gwadar will benefit the entire country, particularly Balochistan. This is why we have had to offer China so many incentives even though Gwadar will provide them with a lot of economic benefits. There has been no assurance or guarantee from the government that in return for Chinese investments, the $300 billion Reko Diq mines would not be handed over to the Chinese on a plate for peanuts. There is also the vexing issue of money. Chinese contractors will have to be paid on time for any work they do, both in developing the port and the economic corridors. The government’s track record in this regard is far from inspiring. Just recently, a Chinese contractor threatened to halt work on the Neelum-Jhelum project until he was paid Rs4 billion. That the government has not immediately paid out this money is worrying. The project is vital to both our economic and national security needs since, under the Indus Waters Treaty, India will be able to secure water rights from the Neelum River if we do not complete our project before them. For Gwadar to be a success, the government will have to be vigilant in ensuring that such unforced errors are no longer repeated.