Category: Pakistan Politics

ISLAMABAD, March 27: Despite being a nominee of the formerly ruling party, almost all the mainstream political parties, including those in the opposition camp, have welcomed the designation of Mir Hazar Khan Khoso as the country’s sixth caretaker prime minister.

However, most of the political leaders are of the view that the matter should not have gone to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the decision should have been taken by the parliamentary committee comprising the government and opposition representatives.

All the five previous caretaker prime ministers had remained the target of criticism by major political parties for their past roles and association with a particular political party and this is for the first time that almost all of the parties are unanimously expressing confidence in the caretaker set-up.

The main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), which had rejected Mr Khoso’s nomination by Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and later opposed his appointment at the parliamentary committee level, has also accepted the ECP’s decision.

“We respect the election commission’s decision on the nomination of the caretaker prime minister,” said PML-N President Nawaz Sharif in a one-line statement issued by the party.

When contacted, PML-N’s Information Secretary Mushahidullah Khan said: “Everyone should accept the ECP’s decision with an open heart and we also accept it.”

Mr Khan said that even though the ECP did not chose the PML-N’s nominee, the party was happy that a legal and constitutional path had been followed for the appointment of the caretaker prime minister for the first time in the country’s political history.

He said that credit for the constitution amendment ensuring setting up of a neutral caretaker regime in the country for holding of elections in free, fair and transparent manner must be given to the PML-N.

The PML-N leader regretted that at a time when the ECP was discussing the nominees for the caretaker prime minister, the PPP’s information secretary Qamar Zaman Kaira had openly stated that his party would not accept the nomination of retired Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid at any cost.

On the other hand, he said, the PML-N had always stated that it would accept any decision of the ECP.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), led by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, in its cautious reaction termed Mr Khoso’s appointment a “constitutional verdict”.

“This is a constitutional verdict and we accept it,” said PTI’s vice-chairman Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi, when contacted.

Mr Qureshi said the PTI expected that Mr Khoso would “strengthen” and “assist” the ECP to ensure elections in a transparent manners. The PTI, he said, also expected from Mr Khoso that he would remove the impression that he was a nominee of a particular political party.

Similarly, the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) which had boycotted the previous polls along with the PTI, termed Mr Khoso’s appointment “a correct decision of the ECP.”

JI Spokesman Shahid Shamsi said that since all the opposition parties had complete confidence in the ECP, the party also respected its decisions. He, however, was of the view that it would have been better if the political leadership had made this decision.

When contacted, deputy convener of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Dr Farooq Sattar said that his party was completely “satisfied” with Mr Khoso’s appointment that had come as a result of a constitutional process. The MQM leader said the ECP’s decision had also ended the uncertainty in the country and now the whole nation would enter the election phase.

Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari also welcomed the nomination of Mr Khoso as the caretaker prime minister, terming it a “very significant and welcome development”.

President’s Spokesman Farhatullah Babar quoted Mr Zardari as saying that the nomination of Mr Khoso was a culmination of a part of the constitutional process to ensure free and fair elections and would be welcomed by all across the political divide.

The president said the forthcoming general elections under a caretaker neutral set-up selected under the constitutional process and an independent and empowered ECP duly empowered by the parliament for the first time in the country’s history was a very significant and welcome development that should help in banishing the spectre of “manipulated power transfer”.

The president also asked the people to exercise their right to vote and elect their representatives who best represented their hopes, aspirations and priorities.

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, who also telephoned Mr Khoso to congratulate him, expressed the confidence that the country would benefit from his knowledge, capabilities and experience as it moved towards general elections.

Mr Ashraf, who is also the secretary general of the PPP-Parliamentarians, hailed Mr Khoso’s appointment as “a commitment towards democratic process and upholding of rule of law and constitution of the country.”

Justice Khoso, who is scheduled to take oath of the office on Monday, is the second non-political figure to get the office of the caretaker prime minister. Earlier, a former vice-president of the World Bank Moin Qureshi had served as the caretaker prime minister from July 8, 1993 to October 19, 1993 after resignation of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif as a result of his tussle with the then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan.

The politicians who had served as the caretaker prime minister are Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi (1990); Mir Balkh Sher Mazari (1993); Malik Meraj Khalid (1996-97) and Muhammadmian Soomro (2008).

Islamabad Crowns Democracy Train’s Journey to Capitol (See Reports)

This weekend saw a historic moment for Pakistan, as a democratically elected civilian government completed its full five year term for the first time ever. In the past, governments have been ousted by the military or by rivals. The moment passed relatively quietly, with a televised farewell address from the prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Sunday. In an understated address, he conceded that his government had not done enough during the last five years, but maintained that it had lessened the problems it had inherited. He also said that the historic completion of a full term marked the end of a “sinister chapter” of attacks on democracy. “We have strengthened the foundations of democracy to such an extent that no one will be able to harm it in future,” he said.

Many judge the government’s main achievement to be surviving at all. This was no small feat. At the beginning of the five year term, few observers thought that the leading coalition would last more than a year. Asif Ali Zardari was seen as an accidental president, who ended up in this position of power only because of the assassination of his wife, Benazir Bhutto. While Zardari remains unpopular, he has gained a reputation as a canny politician and dealmaker, who kept an unruly coalition together against the odds, despite junior partners frequently breaking away or demanding greater concessions.

There has been a lot of focus on the negative legacy that this government has left behind. Pakistan is in the throes of an energy crisis, with power cuts plaguing large swathes of the country. (As I write this, from the capital city Islamabad, the power has gone off for the fourth time today). Terrorist violence has increased, not reduced, a trend which has not been helped by the lack of a coherent government anti-terrorism strategy. Attacks against religious minorities continue with impunity – from mob attacks against Christian communities to targeted militant violence against Shias. Economic growth is sluggish, while corruption is rife and tax bills low.

Yet on the flipside, the positives should not be overlooked. The level of media freedom enjoyed in the last five years has been unprecedented. Although there were some exceptions, in general, the political opposition and media organisations have been able to say what they want. This has resulted in a lot of mockery and criticism of the present government, to a degree that would have been unthinkable in the past. There have also been significant steps forward in the area of constitutional reform, with greater devolution of power to provincial governments and changes to improve electoral practice.

For months, rumours have circulated that the election will be delayed or cancelled altogether. While I was living in Karachi last year, practically every social gathering featured someone declaring that they knew the election wouldn’t be happening for some reason or another. This demonstrates deep-seated public disbelief that this moment would ever come to pass; a psyche borne of decades of last minute interceptions and power grabs.

The challenge is far from over. Now that the National Assembly has dissolved, the ruling parties are in the process of establishing a caretaker government which will run the country while the Election Commission gets things in order. Shoring up the security situation to reduce bloodshed from terrorist attacks during the polls will be a priority. The election schedule has not yet been announced and rumours still proliferate that the caretaker set up will be extended and elections held off for a year or even two.

The crucial point is that for all the misgivings about the present government, the Pakistani public will, for the first time ever, have the chance to express these feelings through the ballot box. The significance of that cannot be underestimated.

‘Bhuladia’ is not the name of a factory. It is a sickness of the ruling class. Somewhat different from Alzheimer’s disease, it is more selective in choosing what must be forgotten and what must be remembered. A ‘Bhuladia’ patient is predisposed to forgetting the insignificant and the ordinary while remembering the rich and the powerful. A society suffering from ‘Bhuladia’ syndrome will forget the burning alive of 300 ordinary factory workers but remember to drop the murder charges against the two rich and exploitative factory owners. The rentally compromised Raja and his capitalist minister aptly named as ‘Mandiwala’, could not have demonstrated more perfectly the signs and symptoms of the ‘Bhuladia’ disease.

People do not go to work to be burnt alive, blown into smithereens, or trapped in death chambers. In any civilized country there are at least three ways in which employers can be held liable for harm done to employees. They owe a vicarious liability if one employee injures another, a statutory liability imposed by the law of the land and a personal duty under the common law to take reasonable care to prevent harm or injury to employees at work. How come the Islamic Republic suddenly regresses by a thousand years when it comes to the life and wellbeing of its ordinary citizens. Even five months after the tragic event, the toll continues to be vaguely and insensitively referred to as ‘about 300’ dead.

Now that the compensatory crumbs have been distributed to the poor and the rich have been protected from the problematic sections of the penal code, there seems a sense of urgency to forget the past and get on with life. After all, profit-making must not be held back for too long. Do we not need to ask ourselves if we learnt any lessons from the tragic events of 11 September 2012, or do we continue to be just as vulnerable? Even in the 11th century, William the Conqueror had the good sense to legislate fire protection measures. These required all fires to be extinguished at night using a metal cover called ‘couvre feu’ that was put over the fire to exclude the air. The word was gradually adopted as ‘curfew’ – a time beyond which an activity must cease.

So what really went wrong in the ‘Bhuladia’ Factory? The lack of fire extinguishers, the locked evacuation doors, the absence of emergency procedures, the electric wires that sparked, the chemicals that were inflammable, the workers who were not enrolled with the concerned departments, the safety inspectors who never inspected, the hazards that were never identified, the safety training that was never conducted or the safety system that was not in place.

Perhaps it is too embarrassing to admit that while Pakistan has nuclear weapons, it does not have even a basic statutory and administrative health and safety system for its workforce. The existing requirements for safety are obsolete, inadequate and for most part non-existent. The existing safety enforcement mechanisms are corrupt, incompetent and dysfunctional. Like all other civilized countries, Pakistan too needs to create, through an Act of Parliament, an autonomous Occupational Safety and Health Authority (OSHA) for establishing and enforcing Occupational Health and Safety standards throughout the country.

A national Occupational Safety and Health Authority derives its legitimacy and support from three interdependent elements. An Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) Statutory Act, OHS Operational Regulations and the supporting Reference Codes and Standards.

Take for example the Canadian Labour Code or Act (R.S.C., 1985) which is the primary statutory document for Occupational Health and Safety. It lays down requirements for OHS that must be complied by employers, employees and government functionaries. It makes it obligatory for employers to pro-actively identify hazards and institute preventive measures to eliminate or reduce risks.

The operational details of the statutory requirements in terms of application, installation, operation, maintenance, inspections and records are described in Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations (SOR/86-304). The Regulations in turn refer to Standards and Codes (such as B51-97, Boiler, Pressure Vessel, and Pressure Piping Code) that provide specifications for the correct methods and materials used in products, buildings or processes.

A reactive and compensatory approach is counterproductive in the business of OHS. Pakistan seems to show no interest or inclination towards developing its OHS statutory, regulatory and administrative infra-structure. For the uneducated and the fake degree-holding parliamentarians, this and such other serious issues are indeed Greek and totally incomprehensible. Only an absolutely callous, clueless and indifferent state could sit back and do nothing to improve these life-threatening death traps referred to as workplaces. Civil society needs to stand up for the 56 million adult and 10 million child workers who work under perilous conditions to earn their daily bread.
Can the Election Commission add a new requirement for every parliamentarian to undergo compulsory service as an industrial worker for at least one week every year?

Jan 6, Thatta: Zulfikarabad, the dream city of the president of Pakistan, has sparked another controversy in Sindh. In spite of tooth and nail opposition, the government seems ready to proceed with its plans. The project, originally named as Jheruk, was first heard of in 2009. The scheme was later relocated to further south of Thatta district in Jati, Shah Bunder, Keti Bunder and Kharo Chaan talukas.

A meeting chaired by President Asif Zardari on 28th January 2011 was told that the project would require some 1.6 million acres of land in the four coastal talukas of Thatta district. More than 1.2 million acres of the earmarked land is presently under sea and would require huge amount of money to reclaim. Sindh Land Management and Development Company has been established to acquire land for the project.

An autonomous body, Zulfikarabad Development Authority (ZDA) has been established to steer the project. The authority enjoys rare powers of approving any scheme even without seeking approval from the provincial Planning and Development Department. A high powered Executive Committee of the Authority has been empowered to take decisions. The chief secretary of the province would be just an ordinary member of the authority, ceremonially chaired by the chief minister and practically operated by the managing director. This is probably the only development scheme of its kind, for which key decisions are taken in meetings chaired by not less than the president of Pakistan.

Coastal strip is globally considered as an enticing location for commercial investments e.g. housing, tourism, industry and trade. Most expensive residential schemes are developed along coastal towns and cities. According to some estimates, approximately three billion people on earth live within 200 kilometres of coast and 14 out of 17 biggest cities of the world are located on coastline. This development is often materialised at the cost of indigenous communities. Against this backdrop, civil society has expressed its serious reservations on social and environmental implications of this scheme. Involuntary displacement of thousands of people from coastal villages is afoot.

China has shown its keen interest in the scheme. Delegations of Chinese investors frequently meet the president to lobby for major contracts in the project. The president has also recently visited China and the two countries have signed MoU to implement the project through Chinese companies.

Such high value projects nest hefty profits and poor communities become their casualty in numerous ways. Pakistan does not have impressive track record in this context. Resettlement of few thousand people of much smaller projects like Chotiari reservoir reeked with massive embezzlements and nepotism. Plight of the would-be displaced communities of Zulfikarabad is a foregone conclusion.

Key reason for Sindhis to oppose this project is lurking fear of being turned into a numeric minority in their own province. According to the 1998 census, Sindhi speaking population was 60 per cent. Sindhi speaking population in urban areas was 25.8 per cent against 78.75% Punjabi speaking in urban Punjab and 73.55% Pashto speaking in Urban KP. Demography of Karachi was even worse with Sindhi speaking population standing at 7.7%. Against this backdrop, any new city of expected population of 10 million would easily convert Sindhis into a minority within a decade. Nationalist parties in Sindh consider Zulfikarabad a tool of demographic genocide of Sindhis.

The project is also impregnated with environmental risks. Indus Delta is jewel in the crown of Pakistan’s ecological heritage. For its rich biodiversity, the Delta is declared as a Ramsar site and attains great environmental significance. According to WWF Pakistan, the area where the city is proposed houses about 50 per cent of the country’s remaining mangroves cover most of which is declared as ‘protected’ since 1950s.

Recent studies on the existing land use of the location indicate that mangrove forests, wet mudflats and seawater in various major and minor creeks cover 7.2, 40.2 and 20 per cent of the total area of the site, respectively (WWF Pakistan). The remaining one third is the inland area which comprises agriculture and inland vegetation on about 9 per cent and uncultivated agricultural land and residential areas on 24 per cent of the total area of proposed Zulfikarabad site. More than 50,000 hectors of the proposed site are covered with mangroves forests, most of which are under the administrative jurisdictions of Sindh Forest Departments. Pakistan’s Environmental Protection Act requires an Environmental Impact Assessment (to which Social Impact Assessment is a component) of such projects. Considering the scope of the project, ideally a Strategic Impact Assessment should be conducted. However, all these requirements have been violated flagrantly.

Coastal cities are no more considered salubrious locations. Environmental hazards and coastal disasters have made such cities more vulnerable. Tsunamis of East-Asian coast in 2004 and of Japan in 2011 provide ample evidence of alarming vulnerability of coastal cities. Tourism, industry, shipping and aqua-culture are some of the prime areas of interest for investors. Natural ecosystem is gradually encroached and eventually replaced by concrete and steel in such areas.

Tsunami hit East-Asian countries developed shrimp farming into a $9 billion industry by erasing mangroves forests in vast swathes. The massive wave of destruction caused by the 2004 tsunami dwarfed all economic gain that the shrimp industry claimed. According to some reports, Sindh coast witnessed an average of four cyclones in a century. However, the frequency and intensity has increased manifold and the period of 1971-2001 records 14 cyclones. From 2001 to 2010, two high intensity cyclones i.e. cyclone Yemyin and cyclone Phet narrowly missed Sindh coast. Thus, Zulfikarabad would be exposed to serious potential hazards.

The proposed city is located in an active seismic zone, where exists Allah Band Fault, a potential threat of severe earthquake. In its southeast lies Gujarat Seismic Zone (GSZ) and in north-west Makran Subduction Zone (MSZ) that pose serious threat to the proposed city. Bhuj earthquake of 2001 caused devastation in the adjoining areas across the border.

Looking at shambolic infrastructure and substandard quality of services in Sindh, one wonders why these resources cannot be veered to improve the existing system. Most of the province is devoid of vehicle-worthy highways, link roads and basic infrastructure in secondary cities. Housing, drinking water and sanitation facilities are not available in large parts of big cities and secondary towns of Sindh. Thousands of schools and health facilities are without basic facilities. According to official data, 10,722 schools are without building and 24,559 are without drinking water facility in the province (Sindh Economic Survey 2009-2011). The same document acknowledges that provision of health facilities in Sindh is grossly inadequate. The province has only 3.5 doctors per 10,000 people and only 1.1 nurses against the same number of people. Against this backdrop, the decision to pour billions of dollars to build another big city lacks prescience.

 

He stood yards from the tomb of his mother, a two-time prime minister killed by Islamic militants exactly five years before, and that of his grandfather, a prime minister and president ousted in a military coup and hanged by a dictator, and told the huge crowd filling the open ground in front of the white domed mausoleum that there were “two powers” in his homeland, “those on the right path and those on the path of lies”.

On Thursday Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the 24-year-old only son of Benazir Bhutto and the heir to one of the most powerful, famous and controversial political dynasties in the world, made his formal debut in the turbulent and often lethal world of Pakistani politics at an emotional rally in a small village which is his family’s ancestral home in the south of the country.

“Bilawal has arrived. This was a huge step. It was make or break for him,” said Nadeem F Paracha, a well-known columnist with Dawn newspaper after the speech.

Less than three years ago, Bhutto junior was studying history and politics at Christ Church college, Oxford, a target for tabloid journalists but few others. Now he is probably the most high-profile target in a country hit by wave after wave of extremist violence.

Bhutto spoke of the sacrifices made by members of his family, workers of the Pakistan People’s party (PPP), and others such as Shia Muslims shot dead in ongoing sectarian violence and Malala Yusafzai, the 15-year-old schoolgirl and activist for girls’ education who was shot and badly injured by militants in October and is now recovering in a British hospital.

“How long you will go on killing innocent people? … if one Malala will be killed, thousands will replace her. One Benazir was killed; thousands have replaced her,” Bhutto told the crowds.

Observers noted that Bhutto’s Urdu, the national language which he has had to hastily learn since his return to Pakistan to take up his political heritage, was, if still accented, much improved.

“He does not believe in being the anointed prince. He wants to earn the respect of the party workers and of the people of Pakistan,” said Farnahaz Ispahani, a former PPP member of parliament and a confidant of the Bhutto family.

More than 5,000 police had been deployed to protect the event. Helicopters hovered overhead.

Parliamentary elections due this spring are likely to test the ruling PPP-led coalition, hit by an ailing economy, rising prices for basic foodstuffs, continuing violence, anger at endemic graft and an ongoing power crisis that brings daily electricity cuts.

Bhutto’s father, Asif Ali Zardari, has been the president of Pakistan since 2008. A controversial figure who was jailed on corruption charges that he has said were politically motivated from 1996 to 2000 but who has proved a skilful tactical politician, Zardari has been described as a “transitional leader” for the PPP.

Though only able to contest elections in September after his 25th birthday, Bhutto’s presence will nonetheless be a powerful boost in campaigning over the coming months.

“Bilawal grew up with his mother as his father was in jail for a long time. He went with her to rallies and was with her in top-level meetings. His beliefs – in pluralism, democracy, human rights – mirror hers,” said Ispahani.

However, doubts remain over Bhutto’s appeal to new, younger, urbanised and often more religiously minded voters. Osama Siddique, a professor at Lahore University of Management Science, said it was hard to “visualise Bilawal” in a key position in the immediate future.

“Putting Benazir’s son on a stage makes political sense. It’s a very poignant and emotional moment still for many people,” he said.

Cyril Almeida, analyst and editorialist in the southern city of Karachi, said that though Bhutto’s personal courage was unquestionable it was less certain that a political novice could “solve the problems faced by the country … whatever his last name”.

Benazir Bhutto died when leaving a political rally in the northern city of Rawalpindi while campaigning for elections in 2007 after nearly 10 years in exile. Her killers have never been conclusively identified, though most experts and intelligence services believe Islamic extremists were responsible. The PPP won the postponed polls held after her assassination to gain power.

Party officials told the Guardian on Thursday that Bilawal, who was educated at private English-medium schools in Pakistan and in Dubai after his mother went into self-imposed exile in 1999, would contest his mother’s parliamentary seat when he was old enough.

Last year Fauzia Wahab, a presidential aide and Bhutto family friend, said Bilawal carried “a heavy burden” as he “had the Bhutto genes”.

Benazir Bhutto’s father, Zulfiqar, rode to power on an anti-poverty platform before being deposed and eventually executed in prison by the military dictator Muhammed Zia-ul-Haq in 1979. Both he and his daughter are routinely referred to as “shaheed” or “martyred” in Pakistan.

Bhutto told the crowd on Thursday that the PPP stood for “food, clothes and shelter” for the common man, purposefully using a slogan from his grandfather’s campaigns. Bhutto, who friends say reads history avidly, also appeared well aware of the potential cost of his new role.

“The PPP is not just a political party. This is our life,” he said.

Dynastic politics

In an uncertain south Asia, it is always nice to have something you can rely on. In Pakistan it is that a Bhutto will be either in power or leading the opposition. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto dominated the early 1970s with his brand of populist, leftwing, nationalist and increasingly autocratic politics. His daughter was prime minister twice. Now it’s her son’s turn to enter the fray.

In India, the great local democracy, the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty is as dominant as it has ever been with Rahul Gandhi, 42, hoping to become a fourth-generation prime minister, or at least principal candidate, and his mother, Sonia, currently the president of the ruling Congress party.

In Bangladesh, the decades-old rivalry between Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina Wajed for control of the country continues that between the late husband of one and the father of the other. Bhutan is still a monarchy.

In Burma, the Nobel-prize-winning democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of the assassinated nationalist leader and effective founder of the modern country Aung San, is leader of the opposition and spoken of as a potential president in the future.

In Sri Lanka, the son of the president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, himself the son of a prominent politician, has won a seat in the family fief of Hambantota and significant numbers of family members fill posts across the country’s administration.

At state or provincial level in all these countries, similar dynamics are at work. Why are dynastic politics so tenacious on the subcontinent? In an often mercenary world, there is the obvious need for any successful politician to bolster his or her hold on power by recruiting loyal retainers who will not defect for material gain. This means family first. Then there is simple inheritance of power, influence, money and, especially in India and Pakistan, land. A key factor is the importance of personalities in contests largely stripped of ideological content. Finally there are the high levels of illiteracy, which make a famous name a determining factor for tens of millions of voters.

One common strand uniting the dynasties is that most of them speak English as a first language. Along with railways and a swollen bureaucracy, it may be that British rule bequeathed something else too: a taste for hereditary power and deference. There are one or two exceptions to the rule. The Maldives has all sorts of political woes but dynastic rule is not one of them. Nepal has recently done away with its kings, though it is hardly a model of stability either. As for Afghanistan, a relative replacing the president, Hamid Karzai, as a candidate, possibly a successful one too, in coming polls is far from impossible. After all, in south Asia, politics is a family affair.