ISLAMABAD, Nov 13 -With more than 5,000 signatures on a petition filed in the Supreme Court, Karachi activists hope the judges will take up the murder case of Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) director Parveen Rahman.
These signatures were submitted in the attorney general’s office on Tuesday nearly two months after a three-judge bench, headed by Justice Tassadaq Hussain Jilani, admitted a petition on Rahman’s murder case. Setting aside the objections raised by the registrar’s office, the Supreme Court admitted the plea filed by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and the citizens of Karachi. The petition, filed on Tuesday, urges the apex court to take up the case on an urgent basis.
OPP’s Rahman was killed in Karachi in March this year allegedly due to the enmities she made through her work – she worked extensively on the city’s drainage network and water hydrants. A charge sheet on her murder has, however, yet to be submitted in court. The petitioner’s counsel told the court that Rahman’s murderers were still at large and they were being sheltered allegedly by a political party.
The petition aims to draw attention to justice denied to a person who dedicated three decades of her life to redress grievances of the poor in the face of land grabbers, claimed one of the petitions. “Her killers, those who pulled the trigger and those who ordered it, remain at large,” said the director of Akhtar Hameed Khan Resource Centre, Fayyaz Baqir. “No one is there to guard those who dedicate their lives to public service.”
Apart from Baqir, human rights activist Zohra Yusuf and journalist Zubaida Mustafa have also submitted petitions. They have cited the provincial and the federal governments and the provincial police as respondents.
Her works
Rahman was compiling land records of settlements on the fringes of Karachi, which were vanishing into the city’s vastness because of the ever-increasing demand from thousands of families migrating to the metropolis.
According to her colleagues, she had been receiving death threats from land grabbers. In one of her interviews, conducted in 2011, she had stated in detail the nature of land grabbing activities in Karachi and the threats received by her and her colleagues.
Naseemur Rehman, one of her colleagues, told The Express Tribune that if they compromise on this murder of a community worker today, then nobody will dare stand up for the uplift of the poor strata of society. “We will not let this case die in the files,” he added.
TV news channels are supposed to provide information based on facts with objectivity and honesty. Sadly, all this is sorely lacking in the expanding media milieu in Pakistan. Without a touch of Bollywood melodrama and sensation, our news today is incomplete. Our news bulletins have turned news channels into ‘infotainment channels.’ Is it because of the rating competition, marketing considerations or plain lack of professionalism?
While speaking at a private university, a producer of a popular infotainment show on a private TV channel admitted that at least 50 percent of their “show” was based on “fake stories,” and the channel dramatized it in such a fashion that it looked real.
He was speaking about a show that is among the top-rated infotainment show aired on every Saturday and Sunday. It would not be difficult to assess, then, the kind of information we feed our viewers.
One must appreciate the confession made by the producer but was he the only person responsible. Such shows normally have a producer, an assistant producer, a researcher and the anchor himself, who act as a captain because he or she is the one who often face criticism in the media, whether it is his or her fault or not. Anchors and reporters are the real face of any channel.
One of the channels recently fired its bureau chief in Hyderabad after numerous complaints against him, including airing a “fake crime story.” When the show was aired, it hit the headlines, got good ratings and the channel made special promos for promotional purposes and the issues were also covered in the news bulletin. Now was it ethical on part of the anchor, channel and all those involved to air the story? Why was only the producer fired?
The police arrested the bureau chief in what has been described by his colleagues “in a most humiliating” manner. “He was picked up like a terrorist or a criminal. They did not even allow him to wear his shirt,” said Ali Hasan, former president of Hyderabad Press Club.
When he was released on bail of Rs.1 million (according to the bureau chief) after 24 hours of police custody, I called him to find out his side of the story. He was afraid to talk, his voice was chocked and he said little about his ordeal. “I am innocent, I did nothing. It has nothing to do with the story but I can’t say at the moment why I was picked up and on whose order,” he said.
When I spoke to a senior staffer of his channel, he confirmed that there were number of complaints against the bureau chief including the story aired in the popular show.
The channel may take more action against some of the other people involved in the story and the show, but the fact is: Was this the only show where we often see stories far from facts.
What many team members and anchors of different shows do not realize is that such stories could threaten their lives, not because of their “boldness” but due to “fake or non-factual” stories.
A story based on facts and proper investigation can attract viewers depending on its production quality and content. So, why to look for a “desk story?”
Many private TV news channels have crime shows aired at prime time from 7pm to 11pm. Even in the morning shows events are “dramatized” (factual or non-factual) and as a result infotainment now has a dominant role while news and current affairs have taken the backseat.
The Islamabad High Court recently took notice of a show in which a female anchor “raided” – a term more often used by bureaus of different channels and newspapers for policing – a prostitution den. Except for showing “sex scenes” she allegedly showed everything, as she asked all kind of probing questions from the “call girls.”
Though “infotainment” is not confined to crime shows, those heading such programs are under tremendous pressure to bring more and more crime shows. The content of these shows is often dominated by sex stories as it gets “good rating.”
We, the reporters, producers and anchors, don’t hesitate to raid houses, cafes, private parties any more.
Now in the race and competition, the channels have ran out of true stories – though there are millions of them, provided someone interested can go find them – and turned to concocted stories.
Instead of promoting investigative journalism and allowing reporters to investigate true news stories on crime, terrorism, financial scams, political scandals, we have adopted a more negative approach.
I know for a fact how some of our colleagues put pressure on different departments and at times blackmail the police and other departments like customs, excise and taxation etc.
When the private ownership of news channels was allowed in 2001, the channels attracted viewers as they offered 24/7 news. Compared to the print media’s combined circulation of some five million, the viewership of the news channels crossed 30 million.
The credit goes to the “news.” But now the channels have increased the ratio of infotainment. In the initial years, we used to have re-enactment, which was later taken over by dramatization. Now we have complete drama in the “news channel.”
Some of us still remember what happened when one of the channels ran a “fake story” about a madrassa in Karachi that kept its students in chains. Everyone who handled the story knows the actual facts, yet a fake story was aired. The outburst was more lethal from the madrassa than they expected. The team members went underground and ran from one city to another to save their skin.
The fake stories, often presented as real stories, are not only unethical but often put the anchors, producer and team members in an embarrassing position. At times, they are left with no other option but to offer a public apology. But when the crunch comes – in the shape of action from the police, law enforcement agencies or from non-state actors – it is only the staffers that suffer.
There is nothing wrong in reenactment and actors presenting a story for as long as the story itself is not fictitious. After all, the basis of journalism and ethical media is to look for stories based on “facts” that have to be accurate.
We need to promote healthy journalism, not fake journalism. Pakistani media has come a long way after a tireless struggle. People have lot of faith in us. Let’s not destroy it in the name of commercialism and the mad race for rating.
—————————————————————————–
The author is former secretary-general of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists.
MINGORA / LONDON, Oct 8: Iconic teenage activist Malala Yousafzai on Monday said she wanted to change the face of Pakistan by venturing into politics in future.
The 16-year-old activist has also backed dialogue with the Taliban, despite repeated death threats by the militants. “I will be a politician in my future. I want to change the future of my country and I want to make education compulsory,” Malala told the BBC in an interview.
“If I’m saying that there is no-one who is doing anything for education, if I say there is no electricity, there is no natural gas, the schools are being blasted, and I’m saying no-one is doing this, why don’t I go for it, why don’t I do this?”
Malala said, talking about her ambitions to pursue politics. “The best way to solve problem and to fight against war is through dialogue, and is through peaceful way,” she said.
“But for me the best way to fight against terrorism and extremism is a simple thing – educate the next generation.”
Talking about issues of terrorism and dialogue with the Taliban, Malala said it was not her job, “It’s the government’s job, and not an issue for me,” she said, adding “It’s also the job of America.”
Malala said it was important that the Taliban discussed their demands. “They must do what they want through dialogue,” she told the BBC. “Killing people, torturing people and flogging people – it’s totally against Islam. They are misusing the name of Islam.”
The teenager is also among the favourites to win the Nobel Peace Prize, which will be announced on October 11.
During the interview, Malala said winning the peace prize would be ‘a great opportunity’ but that universal education remained her true goal.
“If I win Nobel Peace Prize, it would be a great opportunity for me, but if I don’t get it, it’s not important because my goal is not to get Nobel Peace Prize, my goal is to get peace and my goal is to see the education of every child,” she explained.
Schoolgirls pray for Malala
In her hometown, school friends hope to see Malala win the Nobel Peace Prize this week – but they dream in secret, under pressure from a society deeply ambivalent about the teenage activist. Peeling off from a group of girls at a high school in Mingora, the main town in Swat, Malala’s longtime friend Safia spoke confidently about her and said she deserves it.
“A bicycle cannot run with only one wheel – society is like a bicycle, with the male education as the first wheel and female education as the second one,” she told AFP.
Safia’s sentiments are shared by many schoolgirls in Mingora, who want their country and their area to be known for something other than the Taliban and bombs.
“Malala is a model, not only for us but for the whole of Pakistan,” said 14-year-old Rehana Noor Bacha.
Education has improved in Swat since the Taliban days. Since 2011, the proportion of girls going to school has risen to nearly 50%, from 34%, while that of boys is close to 90%.
Malala’s rise to stardom in the West, and her frequent appearances in the media, have brewed suspicion in a society that expects women to remain out of sight and is quick to blame foreign powers for its ills. The head of girls’ education in Swat, Dilshad Begum, explained that in Pashtun society “people don’t like to see women in front of cameras”.
Maulana Gul Naseeb, a prominent figure in the JUI-F, was more forthright. “America created Malala in order to promote their own culture of nudity and to defame Pakistan around the world,” he told AFP.
Bizarre theories like this have gained ground on social networking sites, with users declaring themselves shocked to see the West elevate a girl ‘only’ wounded while forgetting Afghan and Pakistani children killed by American bombs.
Safia said even people from Malala’s village had opposed her, but the critics were ‘hypocrites and jealous’.
Safia says she is optimistic and determined, and is doing better after spending three months feeling traumatised by the attack.
This week as the Nobel announcement approaches she will pray for Malala’s chances, but warns it will make little difference if she wins. “It will take at least three generations to make things change here,” she sighed.
Author meets community in Sultanabad (Credit: Fayyaz Naich)Sultanabad, Aug 20: ATDT author visited her ancestral village of Sultanabad, founded by her maternal grandfather Fida Hussain Khaliqdina – who was appointed in 1920 as a trustee of Sultan Mohammed Shah Aga Khan 111 – while Sindh was still under British occupation.
The invitation to visit Sultanabad was formally extended to the author and her companions by the religious higher ups of the community.
Sultanabad founder (extreme right) (Credit: Author)Built in the proximity of Mirpurkhas, Sindh (in the south of Pakistan), Sultanabad is enclosed in a thicket of trees, with rich cultivated farm lands, well planned rows of houses, class rooms for computer training, community hall, library – and prayer house.
The author was apprised of her grandfather’s work in buying 644 acres of barren land in Bulgai Jodhpur Railway Station, near Sukkur barrage, where he successfully settled Ismaili families with his own funds, in what became known as Sultanabad Agriculture Colony.
According to the community elders, Sultanabad (1-3) have since become a model agricultural villages.. with a thriving market that supplies fruits and vegetables to Sindh. In turn, the community has built up good quality education, employment, health facilities and a high level of security that protects it from the uncertainty that plagues much of the province.
A multi purpose cooperative society has been formed in the name of Varis Fida Hussain, to facilitate economic cooperation and enhance the financial well being of the community.
Meeting in Hyderabad (Credit: Sahar Gul Bhatti)Hyderabad, Aug 21: ATDT author was feted at a gathering of the Women’s Action Forum, hosted by Sindh University lecturer and media personality Irfana Mallah in Hyderabad.
The gathering, which included male contemporaries, discussed the situation pertaining to Sindh and the expectations that have evolved since this year’s election. Speakers said that the PPP’s set-back nationwide had confined them to their home province, where they had been voted in to resolve people’s local problems.
According to the speakers, over the last five years, the intrusion of big money in politics – including the recent election campaign – had facilitated the culture of corruption. Education had deteriorated, while employment was based on ethnicity and patronage rather than merit.
There was discussion about the involvement of major power players (including political parties) in patronizing criminal elements. They said that the phenomenon of kidnappings for ransom had particularly set back development initiatives in Sindh.
In the course of frank discussions, the women acknowledged the need for support from male members in order to end marginalization, and to work together for socio economic advancement and justice within society.
ISLAMABAD, Aug 7: The government is considering a plan to strengthen, monitor and coordinate inflows of foreign aids to international non-government organisations (NGOs) to carry out development work in the country.
The new expected rules might reduce the freedom of action of NGOs for spending on priority sectors of the country.
Massive inflows of foreign aid to NGOs had been witnessed during the last many years, which mostly remained unaccounted for and out of government ambit.
To regulate the mushroom growth NGOs, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet had constituted a high level committee at its meeting held last week to review regulatory framework for NGOs working in Pakistan for facilitation of the humanitarian and development work.
On Tuesday, the committee held its first meeting on the issue which was chaired by Federal Minister for Science and Technology Zahid Hamid. The meeting was briefed about the current policy and legal framework and the proposals to bring improvements in this framework.
The committee decided that in line with the present government’s policy of good governance and transparency, it would undertake a transparent consultative process with all stakeholders in public and private sectors before finalising its recommendations for consideration of the government.
The chairman of the committee Mr. Zahid noted that the objective of these improvements was to ensure that maximum transparency was achieved in the work of these international organisations and their work was in line with the reform initiatives of the government and humanitarian and development requirements of the country.
The minister further observed that the regulatory framework must facilitate the flow of resources to the appropriate sectors and must act as a help to these organisations who provide relief and development assistance to Pakistan.
A well-placed source told Dawn that focus of the regulation would be to bind these NGOs to carry out development work in national priorities areas. Currently, the NGOs implement their own agenda for their so called development works.
In 2010, India also carried out extensive reforms to regulate inflows of foreign assistance to NGOs and made them bound to spend on government identified priorities areas.
The proposed reforms of the law are expected to increase government control on the economy that revolves around NGOs. Many legislators had requested the previous government to carry out audit of the spending of these NGOs, but no attention was paid to their demand.
Experts suggested that government should do away with the permanent registration of these NGOs and make it time bound. Similarly, organisation of political nature should not receive foreign funds.
Maulana Abdus Sattar Edhi (facebook.com)KARACHI, June 25: Renowned philanthropist, Abdul Sattar Edhi, is suffering from kidney failure, Dr Adib Rizvi said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Speaking at a press conference at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT), Dr Rizvi said that both kidneys of Mr Edhi have “started failing”. He said that although a donor kidney has been requested, there were minimal chances of a successful transplant due to the frail health of Mr Edhi.
He added that in case a transplant is not conducted he (Edhi) will need daily dialysis to continue living.
Under treatment at SIUT for the past few days, the octogenarian sounded weak while speaking to Dawn.com over the telephone.
When asked about his condition, he said: “My son, Faisal, and wife Bilquis are taking care of everything. I have requested for a donor kidney. In any case if I deserve to live more years, then I’ll live.”
Considered one of Pakistan’s biggest philanthropists, octogenarian is the founder and head of the Edhi foundation.
The Edhi foundation operates a widespread ambulance service in Pakistan, said to be one of the biggest in the world.The foundation gets a large number of donations, thanks to the respect that Mr Edhi has earned from the public.
Apart from getting many nationally recognised awards, Mr Edhi was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by the government in 2012.
Good development experts have failed to get across a basic truth to Pakistan’s politicians and economic planners: If you are on a dirt road, fill the ruts – don’t dream of bullet trains and flyovers! One has to get the basics right before anything else can work. This obvious fact failed to register with the government and the Election Commission as it set in motion the recent ballot-box democracy exercise, allowing law breakers of all shades a free hand in returning to parliament. They overlooked the fact which every cook knows: clean the pans before preparing fresh meals! For those undaunted by this recent failure and blessed with an optimistic spirit, a potpourri of home truths is laid out.
A poor country like Pakistan cannot have sustainable development without reducing its population significantly through enlightened family planning. (It is best not to use the euphemism ‘developing country’, which we were in the 1960s when an attempt was made at population control.) How can we get back on track? A global perspective will help.
About 3 million children in poor countries die annually of diseases that can be prevented by basic healthcare and vaccination. The cost of providing a package of basic vaccines to a child is about Rs. 3000 – the price of a good meal in a luxury hotel. Pakistan has about 3% of the world’s population of 7 billion. Therefore roughly 250 kids die here daily. What’s the cost of avoiding these deaths? Just the price of one lavish wedding reception daily! And as for the basic healthcare for all, nothing is more important than providing potable water through community outlets, which is easily affordable.
Enlightened education, particularly of females, that encourages critical thinking is another key area needing urgent attention. Attempts at improving higher education level over a decade have overlooking the more critical lower levels where irreversible damage is presently done to impressionable minds. Education when viewed holistically should integrate all levels of education, including informal education, which brings the adult population up to steam and encourages lifelong learning. But who is going to do this?
The standard of pedagogy at all levels is poor. This failing can be corrected by a nationwide program of teachers’ training, principally in English communication skills. The world’s knowledge will continue its exponential growth in this language and we need to build on our advantage in English from the colonial era. Shortage of master trainers will require importing talent and where better to find it economically than India. Even more important is the provision of fast internet access nationally in neighborhood community cybercafés — that double up as cultural centers.
Large-scale provision of inexpensive multi-media projectors in institutions would allow students to view off-line programs of the best teachers globally with the local teacher acting as a facilitator. Our teachers and professors should use them as role models, while weaving the knowledge from the Net into the Pakistani context for their students. Above all we need a rethinking of the curriculum across the board, cognizant of the amazing range and quality of knowledge now on the Net.
Pakistan’s radio and TV are largely news and entertainment outlets than need redirection towards worthier goals of enlightening, lifelong learning. The models of the BBC in the UK and PBS and NPR in the USA – live and on the Net – can show us how this can be achieved. Such tools of the new media will help achieve full literacy in the country faster than the mere 5 years that it took some South American countries to do so using the ideas of Paulo Friere.
I conclude with brief reference to three commonly voiced concerns: energy, human and environmental security.
Instead of lurching forward into dangerous technologies such as nuclear and coal, we need to focus on our natural abundance of sunshine and hydropower (about which much has been written). While wind technology needs exploration, the area calling for immediate implementation is solar thermal, i.e. direct capture of heat energy from the sun’s rays to turn turbines for power generation – an option cheaper than wind energy. It has the advantage of our engineers accomplishing this largely themselves. At the other end, appropriate technologies such as green roofs (or simply oil painting or installing reflective high insulation tiling) could cool our homes and reduce cost, as can improving efficiency of industry, vehicles and other energy guzzlers. Some complex problems have cheap, simple solutions, see: http://tinyurl.com/kg4ows4.
Human security issues require that we establish not just peace but cordial relations with India, Afghanistan and Iran and open our borders to free exchange of people and commerce. Let’s be honest and admit that Kashmir cannot be snatched from India – ask the experienced retired general under house-arrest in his farmhouse in Islamabad! Money for wasteful military gadgets can then be diverted towards human development.
Human security would be best advanced by providing decent livelihood to the poor and disadvantaged — gimmicks such as the expensive Income Support Program will fail. What are needed are low-cost projects which provide employment and honorable income for the multitudes of unskilled and uneducated, coupled with literacy and skills training. One such project ought to be for countrywide reforestation – green cover is well below 5% of the land-area; it ought to be at least 5 times higher. The environmental and social benefits of it would be enormous.
Publicity-attracting expensive mega-projects have been dear to our leaders. The real skill of wise leaders, though, lies in generating a sense of self-worth among the citizens. Ensuring self sufficiency through transforming the country from the bottom up is the way. The new government must take up this challenge.
Gwadar Port in Balochistan (Credit: trekearth.com)
AFTER ages, there is a note of jubilation in the discussions on the future of Balochistan. Till about a year ago, many were convinced it didn’t even have a future.
The change is the nomination of the National Party’s Dr Abdul Malik Baloch as chief minister. He will be the first ever Baloch chief minister not embedded in the structure and from an educated, middle-class background.
His credentials as a guard of the province’s interests are apparent in his growth through the ranks of the Baloch Students Organisation, the earlier leadership of the Balochistan National Movement, the foresight of merging with the National Democratic Party to form the NP, and the issues he unflaggingly raised in the Senate during his term.
Credit is due to Nawaz Sharif for the statesmanship displayed in dealing with the assertive claims to the post made by the leadership of his own party, and placing at the helm someone who was previously a political opponent. It was a potentially fractious, hence bold political decision.
The nawab of Jhalawan, Sanaullah Zehri, showed political maturity in accepting it and standing by the decision after his own strident claims and not quitting in a huff.
Had Sardar Mengal agreed earlier to an electoral alliance with the NP, it would have been the crowning triumph. Since the 2002 elections when Gen Musharraf’s regime ushered the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal into power, the Baloch nationalist groups have been on the defensive and outside the electoral fold.
The rising power of the religio-political alliance was at the cost of the nationalists. Their return to the electoral fold under a non-tribal steered leadership is significant.
This should have been the PPP’s moment. But the party squandered it in the same manner it did many others, by first showing long-term vision and making important structural changes, but then offsetting these with immediate-term governance disasters.
Dr Malik’s present nomination would have been a symbolic but politically ineffectual change of face had it not been preceded by the 18th Amendment and the consensually reformulated NFC award. It is devolution of powers and substantive budgets that will give this government political potency.
In that sense, the PPP paved the way for this historic opportunity, but negated its own potential by putting forward the inept nawab of Sarawan, Aslam Raisani, as its chief minister and the party’s political face in the province.
This will remain as the outgoing government’s imprint, not President Asif Zardari’s apology to the Baloch people for historic grievances, and not the unimplemented but well-crafted Aghaaz-i-Haqooq-i-Balochistan package.
Dr Malik now has the democratic mandate to rule, the support and goodwill of the central government, significant fiscal space and financial resources for development via devolution, the ability to take and execute decisions affecting the province, and the credibility to do so.
The proverbial spanner, or in this case, slammer in the works could be the role of the security establishment. The numbers of enforced disappearances attributed to the state vary wildly, with the outgoing home minister citing 55 and the Voice of the Baloch Missing Persons organisation saying 13,000, whereas former interior minister Rehman Malik acknowledged there to be 1,100.
Whatever the realistic count, the effect this practice has had has eclipsed Baloch narratives and produced immense hostility, fear and insecurity to the point that even those who disagree with the tactics of the sarmachar (as the nationalist armed fighters are called), concede that breaking away may be the only survival option.
Continued forced disappearances and recovery of tortured dead bodies as seen over the past five years, would invalidate any perceived forward steps and reassert the image of a predatory and repressive establishment.
There are signs that there may be a change in this policy as well. The Frontier Corps remain the most reviled of state institutions in Balochistan, along with the proxy death squads attributed to them.
Yet in post-election interviews, people I spoke to say there was no explicit or implicit coercion to vote for any particular candidate or party by the security apparatus. If anything, they say they were compelled by the sarmachar not to vote.
While the voter turnout remained relatively low, there was no evident political intrusion by state agencies. According to some people’s accounts, while dumped bodies are still being found, there has been a decline in the number of ‘new disappearances’ over the past few months.
This cannot be verified because the disappearances are not recorded, as when they happen the police refuse to register FIRs against the FC or security agencies and the media often blocks out such news.
For the new government to have a chance at healing wounds and ruptures with the state, it is imperative that the political victimisation and kill-and-dump policy halts.
Without this, no change is possible and Balochistan will remain poised on the brink.
Even if disappearances do end, it will not resolve all the problems. As in any conflict zone, the general law and order breakdown has led to a phenomenal increase in crime such as kidnappings for ransom and a near-complete collapse of the provincial economy.
This doesn’t even begin to touch upon the Hazara killings crisis and the impunity with which the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi has been able to operate.
The incoming government has to also panic about the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, the political face of the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi being able to poll over 20,000 votes for the National Assembly from within Quetta city under the umbrella of the Muttahida Deeni Mahaz. In others places in the province, people have been able to get elected into parliament with much fewer votes.
However small and incremental a step, the nomination of new leadership has given Balochistan breathing space and a fighting chance that it hasn’t had for a decade.
The writer conducts research and analysis in the social and development sector.
Shahab Usto (Credit: tsj.com.pk)Leadership is all about coming up with the right answers to the fundamental questions that are related to the state and society; the rest is just fancy gimmickry and demagogy to woo the half-literate and gullible electorate.
The search for these answers has become all the more imperative as the parties are bracing for the ‘final’ round to ‘oust’ one another from the electoral arena or from the realm of probablity to form a government , though it remains to be seen how they are going to achieve their goal within the democratic parameters when none of the parties seems likely to achieve the required numbers in the elections to single-handledly form a government at Islamabad, if not in the provinces. Moreover, what alternative programme do they have that is going to salvage the country from the existing crises? Finally, do they really believe the problems lie only with bad governance, corruption etc ( as the PTI vehemently claims) and not with the fundamental national security and foreign policy paradigm, which has been jealously guarded by the establishment right from the beginning?
In addition to these queries, there are five questions of primal importance that the mainstream political contenders must answer on the eve of the elections if they have to steer the country out of the gathering storms.
First, how to forge a foreign policy that should pursue a peaceful resolution of bilateral and regional disputes without compromising on national interests, and more importantly, shunning the abstract non-state or meta-state strategic objectives?
This question arose on the very eve of the country’s creation. Kashmir and other disputes with India demanded that the state’s policies should strike a balance between social and security priorities. Unfortunately, that balance was never struck. Security trumped the social sector, sowing the seeds of both intra- and inter-national conflicts with or via India, which cost the country half its part and plunged it into regional and global conflagrations, particularly in the wake of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and 9/11.
Secondly, how to drastically rehash the existing lopsided socio-economic order to change the pathetic social and economic realities faced by the millions of the dispossessed and marginalised masses? Again, this question has never been seriously addressed. Particularly after the perceived ‘failure’ of the PPP’s ‘socialist agenda’ and the tragic fall of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, none of the political or military leaders has dared to go for a meaningful redistribution of wealth and resources. Instead, the fledgling trade unions and peasant movements were nipped in the bud by means of repressive laws and the coercive state machinery.
As a result, today on the one hand half of the population is illiterate, one-third ‘very poor’, one-fourth homeless and one-fifth unemployed, but on the other the country has seen over recent years an increasing monopolisation of industrial, financial and landed assets by a small group of political, business and bureaucratic interests. In fact, regardless of which political party is in power, the state continues to remain blindly wedded to this oligarchic neo-liberal economic model that has failed even in the west in the absence of state regulation.
De-politicisation by General Musharraf and the so-called political ‘reconciliation’ have further strengthened this oligarchic order. As a result, the weak and impoverished classes have been suffering at the hands of bad governance and rising cost of living but the rich and resourceful have been reaping the rewards of a lax fiscal regime, ineffectual accountability and an unbounded access to power.
Third, how to remove the ill will, acrimony between the powerful Centre and the smaller provinces and and the increasingly uncontrolable sectarian, ethnic and mafia-style violence within the society? This question continues to beg an answer notwithstanding the loss of the eastern wing in 1971, the recurring insurgencies in Balochistan, ethnic turf wars in Karachi, and the increasing demand for more linguistic provinces. Moreover, the recent constitutional reforms and devolution of powers to the provinces has made it incumbent upon the political (and military) leadership to evolve a consensus on maximum provincial autonomy. This question may seriously impinge upon the federation and security of the state. Already, the Centre-provinces relations, particularly with reference to Balochistan, are increasingly getting snarled up with the regional web of rivalries and proxy wars, further complicating the situation. Pakistan has repeatedly pointed to the ‘safe havens’ for insurgents in Afghanistan.
Fourth, how to stem and reverse the rising tide of sectarian and inter-religion conflicts that have traumatised society and turned the state into a pawn of regional and global jihadi and counter-jihadi wars? This question needs to be addressed politically and socially, i.e. by enforcing a stringent rule of law to develop a tolerant space for discourses among the representatives of various liberal, religious and sectarian schools. The purpose should be to help evolve an understanding on freedom of expression and respect for multi-scholastic views. So far, the mainstream leadership, both liberal and conservative, have failed to achieve it. Their myopic partisan interests and mutual distrust have not allowed the participatory democratic system to take root and help accommodate divergent views and ideologies. As a result, the ‘discourse’ has been hijacked by violent extremist outfits.
Finally, how to make the government lean, clean and accountable? This is again a primordial question that has cost many a civilian government, paving the way for the decades-long military rule. More recently, it became the ‘cause’ of the dismissal of at least three elected governments in the 1990s, the ‘lost’ decade. But surprisingly, the civilian leaderships have not learnt any lessons. The PPP-coalition government has been castigated day in and day out for its alleged ‘corruption’ and ‘inefficiency’. Indeed, the debate on good governance has acquired an all-encompassing character. Both the PML-N and the PTI are seeking the electoral approval from the masses on this count.
However, it would be wrong to assign all the fundamental structural — social, economic and political — ills to bad governance, which is a significant but only an administrative aspect of the state. No wonder, autocracy has further aggravated the state crisis by focusing only on ‘good governance’ and leaving the underlying socio-economic and political conflicts unattended. Therefore, what is important is to strengthen the institutional bases of good governance. In other words, let the requisites of good governance be fulfilled by putting in place an accountable executive, responsible opposition, reformative legislature, independent judiciary, watchful media, civil society and so on.
But unfortunately, all the ire and reprobation is reserved only for the executive, leaving out the rest of the constituents of bad governance. The PML-N, for example, at the fag end of the last government launched its ‘go Zardari’ campaign, ignoring the fact that barring a small minority, the entire mainstream leadership was partaking of the government at the Centre or the provinces. Why did they not find and fix the malfunctioning parts of the ‘system’ instead of scoring points on partisan political grounds?
And if they couldn’t, because theywere more interested in capturing power, then at least now let these questions be given the utmost priority in the electoral debates and let the electorate be educated enough to weed out the ‘inept’ and ‘corrupt’ would-be rulers, who ever they are.
The writer is a lawyer and academic. He can be reached at shahabusto@hotmail.com
