Pakistan’s Canada-based ex-ambassador Muhammad Yunus in his book Foreign Policy: A Theoretical Introduction (OUP, 2003) has told us how different scholars have avoided theorising about national interest. He quotes Raymond Aron as saying that “it is a formula vague to the point of being meaningless or a pseudo-theory”.
In Pakistan, it is the army that decides strategy. The other institutions, like the government, simply adjust to it. Should we change this pattern? The following points are worth pondering:
1) Because the army was always dominant, a kind of ‘consensual national interest’ became frozen over the national security state, which meant a challenge to India and all those elements — like the nuclear programme — that underpinned it.
2) Is Kashmir an object of national interest? On the ground, it has faded away but in abstraction, it is there as a device to derail discussion over more practical issues.
3) In today’s world, power rather than any morality drives foreign policy. If a state is strong it will be sovereign. It will also have two qualities that will make it a de facto ‘big power’: the ability to resist coercion and the ability to coerce other states. National interest lies in achieving either or both conditions.
4) It is not an unforgivable sin to be a weak state. What should be the national interest of weak states? Contrary to what the nation thinks, it should not be harmed by the power projection of states it cannot oppose or resist.
5) National interest lies in seeking alliances that may break the isolation that enables the enemy-state to successfully harm it.
6) National interest lies in attaining the ability to achieve internal reform in order to avoid foreign pressure of all sorts.
7) National interest lies in avoiding international isolation to prevent other states from getting together within the United Nations to use international law to harm it.
8) Embracing pragmatism in the conduct of the state to come close to a theoretical basis for the understanding of the conduct of a weak state.
9) Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore is the philosopher of the new ‘national interest’ theory that is related solely to the national economy. He symbolises the transition of the nation state to a market state.
10) The ‘market’ states in most of Southeast Asia and the Far East seem to conduct themselves ‘pragmatically’ in the realm of foreign policy, reflected in their abstention from pronouncing an aggressive strategy.
11) Should the common man be the one to decide national interest? What the common man thinks is shaped by the indoctrination of the state. Political theory, developed since the rejection of democracy by philosophers in Athens, recommends ‘indirect representative democracy’ that keeps the common man away from the formulation of strategy.
12) State indoctrination is not geared to the reality of relative power enjoyed by the state vis-à-vis other states but to the myth of its own greatness in the abstract.
13) National interest should not be conflated with nationalism, which is in the domain of emotions that incline the state to the risk of war. National interest should relate to the economic vision of the country and should be achieved with pragmatism.
The writer is Director South Asian Media School, Lahore khaled.ahmed@tribune.com.pk
Published in The Express Tribune, November 11th, 2012.
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There are times when the distinction between the title and the individual ceases to exist, it is only the title. We have seen honourable judges refer to themselves as his Lordship, this does not come naturally to most of us, but then most of us are not their Lordships. The recent exchange between the two “Chiefs” is really about them being bigger than all of us, than the system itself.
The response to the statements is classic textbook ‘Stockholm syndrome’. The Army Chief has constantly been lauded for his commitment to democracy, which is a scared and polite way of saying that he has been kind enough not to impose martial law. This, of course, is perfect nonsense. The Army Chief is a government servant and is not supposed to impose martial law and take over governments. If he does so that is high treason. We do not have to thank everyone who has not committed a crime yet. He would have been fired in most other countries for speaking in this threatening tone of voice. The ISPR statement took more words to communicate to us the same message as a former intelligence chief said very concisely to a reporter on camera when he (the intelligence chief) said: “Shut up, idiot.” The subtext of the ISPR statement, which has also been voiced by many in the media and politicians is that taking too aggressive a stance on the conduct of retired army generals will somehow dampen the morale of the armed forces. I fail to see the force of this argument. All of us should and do dip our flags and salute our brave soldiers fighting the war of our survival and we remain indebted to them for their courage and sacrifices. However, it does not affect the resolve and intention to prosecute generals accused of financial corruption and rigging elections (which most probably is high treason). If anything, the “morale” of our troops will increase knowing that they have a leadership that is willing to uphold their oath and be loyal to the Constitution.
The Chief Justice constantly reminds us of the sacrifices that the present judiciary has made and how the road for all future martial law has forever been blocked. The doctrine of necessity has been buried, etc. A few obsolete maxims like, “judge only speaks through judgments”, etc. have to be disregarded in this courageous endeavour. Nobel sentiments, and one has no reason to doubt the word of My Lord. However, it is too strenuous. The only appropriate time to display (or not to) courage is when the moment arrives, and unfortunately, sooner or later, that time will come. Some particularly cynical people may also object to the Chief Justice taking this slogan on tour, addressing district bar councils and rallying troops. The press conference held by the Registrar of the Supreme Court in the Asghar Khan case is unprecedented; it is not clear if that will be the standard practice for all judgments from now on or if it was a one-off thing. The courts should be free in making any decisions that they deem fit;press conferences, however, are highly debatable. In any event, the good registrar is the Court’s answer to ISPR. Like the Army, the Court is extremely sensitive to criticism, and like the intangible “morale” of the troops, the Court believes unwanted criticism affects the “independence” of judiciary.
Maybe the two Chiefs are more alike than what first impressions would suggest. Prosecuting generals Beg and Durrani is an attack on the entire army; similarly, allegations against Doctor Arsalan is a conspiracy against all of the judiciary. It is always “us”, always the first person “plural”. Another unifying bond between the two Chiefs is dislike for politicians. This, along with their commitment to the “rule of law”, led to a common ground in the Memo scandal. The contempt for politicians is ironic considering the desire of both the Chiefs to be popular. Perhaps, they do not hate the game, just the present players. The press statements of the ISPR and those of the Registrar are meant to garner public support. Their job descriptions do not allow that, the perks, privileges, immunity of being a Judge or a General means that the desire to be popular has to be deferred till retirement. Political and policy statements is a two-way street, we will take you seriously when we can talk back. So, with the utmost of deference, in my opinion, both the Army Chief and the Chief Justice of Pakistan have disregarded red lines in making political statements.
Yet, there still maybe a bright side to this. The Army and the Court have remained on the same page up till now. It is said when Roman generals entered the city after a triumph, there was a man on the chariot whose only job was to whisper in the ear of the general, “Remember, you are only human.” In our case now, there is not one chariot, and there is no whispering; unfortunately, there is no triumph either. Still, the two Chiefs seem to be on parallel chariots competing fiercely and it is more like shouting, however, the message remains the same, “Remember, you are only human.” One hopes amidst all the noise both of them hear and understand that.
The writer is a lawyer and partner at Ijaz and Ijaz Co in Lahore saroop.ijaz@ tribune.com.pk
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Bihar, with a population of 103 million, is the third-most populous state of India. About 17 per cent of the population is Muslim, which makes Bihar host to the second-largest population of Muslims among the Indian states. Bihar had posted a compound annual growth rate of 16.71 per cent during 2011-12, which was the highest among the Indian states. Bihar’s spending on development increased tremendously during the past five years with the expenditure during this period being higher than the cumulative expenditure during the preceding 50 years.
Bihar’s landmark governance initiative has been the passing of the Right to Public Service Act in 2011, which guarantees 52 basic services to its citizens within a fixed timeframe. Citizens can demand these services as a right and penalties are prescribed for public office holders who fail to provide them within the prescribed time limit. The state received 20 million applications during the one year after the passage of the Act of which some 95 per cent were disposed of within the target time.
Another innovation is that of providing the right to information (RTI) to the marginalised and illiterate sections of society, which cannot make written applications to demand information. Now, any citizen can file an application for information using mobile phones and the state is obligated to provide it within 30 days. Call centres have been established to convert public calls into written RTI applications. It is worth noting that RTI has assumed the scale of a movement in India and is extensively used by citizens.
Pakistan, which faces tremendous challenges when it comes to getting children vaccinated, especially against polio, can learn from Bihar, which has succeeded in increasing the percentage of full immunisation from 18.6 per cent in 2005 to 66.8 per cent in 2012. No fresh case of polio has been detected in Bihar since September 2010.
Pakistan and India have discussed issues such as Kashmir, Siachen, river waters, trade and terrorism for many years. However, public issues such as education, health, poverty eradication, right to services, etc, are new and welcome items on the menu.
As Kumar completes his second consecutive term as chief minister after serving six terms in the Lok Sabha and holding portfolios in the Union cabinet, he is being widely tipped as one of the most potent candidates for the future premier of India. His visit to Pakistan and exchange of views with top political leaders will provide him with necessary insight into Pakistan-India relations. Now that Pakistan is transforming itself into a stable democracy, the challenges of providing good governance under a democratic set-up may be easier to face by learning from each other. The goals of peace and friendship can be achieved not only by holding dialogues on bilateral issues but also by sharing experiences on good governance.
The writer is president of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development And Transparency, which facilitated the visit of Pakistani parliamentarians to Bihar in August 2012
Published in The Express Tribune, November 11th, 2012.
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This week I am avoiding politics and plunging once again into nostalgia, to the old black and white English movies that I had downloaded in the prehistoric days before they banned YouTube in Pakistan, which brought back memories of the London of the 1950s and the London School of Economics (LSE) where I spent my most impressionable years. These days, you will be lucky if you get a room in a hotel for 150 pounds a day. But in those carefree, untroubled days, I survived on 50 pounds a month. This was enough for university fees, books, boarding and lodging, transport, monthly visits to Covent Garden or the Albert Hall, an occasional meal in a Pakistani restaurant and annual holidays in France, Spain or Ireland. As my friend Vishnu Sharma of Nairobi received only 30 quid a month from his old man, we used to cross the road and lunch every day in India House for a shilling. That is until they discovered that the passes that we used to flash when entering the canteen were actually London Transport season tickets. Roasted chestnuts in Soho cost six pence and you could take in a double feature at the Astoria cinema in Marble Arch for one-and-six.
Once, when I received a cheque for three pounds for an article I had written for Hier Spricht London, the magazine of the German service of the BBC, I invited a Venezuelan lady to dine with me at Schmidt’s Restaurant at 33-37 Charlotte Street, where each table was attended by a surly, elderly waiter wearing a white apron and they had a proper silver service. The photographs on the walls depicted scenes from some German town as it existed in the 1930s.That was the time, my mother used to tell me years later, when there were only three cities of lights and proper cabarets in Europe — Paris, Berlin and Warsaw. At the LSE, I edited the Clare Market Review, journal of the students’ union for a year. And on weekends, I would be on the Serpentine, rowing against the delicate current, feeling the slight tremor in the dark muscle of the lake, until I felt the rain drop on my cheek and a boiling sky discharged a wilderness of electricity. At times, I visited the National Gallery of Art in Trafalgar Square, where, on one occasion, I met the Hollywood actress Ava Gardner who asked me if I knew where “The Toilet of Venus” by Diego Velazquez was located.
Student life in London was an experience I would not have missed for anything. The images were absolutely riveting. Hikers rambling over pub lunches in Chelsea, discussing the quickest way to get to Cornwall where the land shelves off to furious rain mist and the Atlantic rushes in. Landladies in Bayswater bending over gulags of greasy water in kitchen sinks, toweling their heads, depressed at the sight of gray hairs mealing up the brown, while outside nettles guarded vacancies. Tourists eating salted beef sandwiches at the Nosh Bar in Picadilly near the Windmill Theatre and my soccer games with working class schoolchildren in Surrey Docks. Drinking hot chocolate in The Coffee House in Northumberland Avenue, where Trotskyites, lemon-tea Bolsheviks and Existentialists flirted with freshly scrubbed au pair girls, student teachers and nurses who moved about with a rustle of bombazine and a stick of a smile. In summer, like butterflies, small circuses wandered through the lanes settling on village green and raising their tents like a hawk’s wings. And on Sunday afternoons at Hyde Park Corner, soap box orators demonstrated the power of British democracy.
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First and foremost is the issue of reassessing the state’s strategic goals and changing the manner in which such decisions are made. I would imagine that the ‘Taliban’ was being used by the superior court as a generic term which includes all sorts of jihadi groups operating in Karachi, in particular, and Sindh province in general. The Court must ask how and why the jihadis are so comfortably ensconced in Sindh which is reputed for its strong Sufi tradition. For example, there is now the Lashkar-e-Taiba, spreading its network in upper Sindh, especially in areas where there is a Hindu population. Then there are others like the Sipah-e-Sahaba who are spreading their tentacles as well. At this pace it can be safely assumed that the cultural character of Sindh will undergo a change in the next five to ten years.
In Karachi itself, some of the friendly jihadi outfits are now resurfacing like the Jaish-e-Muhammad, which once had greater say in the affairs of the city but then went partly underground for a while. Some segments of the state are even gently arming and training militant groups, perhaps, to counter the non-religious violence and force of Karachi’s main political party.
Solving the Taliban issue in Karachi and the country at large will have to begin with the question of how and why does the state persist in arming groups, and then creates even more groups to counter/challenge those made earlier. More important, the superior court has to question the mechanism of strategic decision-making in the country — especially how are decisions to make and support militant groups made and who makes them? If put under a microscope, the Supreme Court will realise that it is not the political government which can be held responsible for the mess.
Second, at an operational level, can the problem be solved through improving the performance of the police? Indubitably, the police have to perform their duty and make sure cars with dubious licence plates do not operate in the city, or anywhere in the country. However, there is a larger debate which needs to be opened up on how much should the state and society commit to law enforcement as opposed to the amorphous military security that poses as national security? We often forget that law enforcement, especially policing, is more of a public good that requires serious intellectual and financial investment. The policeman doing his job needs to have the confidence that every time he apprehends a criminal or a “Taliban”, the culprit will not be freed with just one phone call or that people in authority will not come and secretly whisk away the culprit. You can give plenty of weapons to the police but unless they are empowered and trained to take action they will not have the confidence to do so. Policing is now almost a science and should be dealt with in this manner.
Intervention from the top, however, is not a police man’s only frustration. He is totally impotent in the face of a judicial process and system that depends on archaic methods of dealing with terrorism or other crimes. The fact is that Pakistan’s rate of conviction in terrorism cases is abysmal. The current legal system lays emphasis on the first information report (FIR) and identification of the convict by the complainant or affected. So, a case becomes automatically weak if a name is not there in the initial FIR or there is no one to do physical identification, known as shanakht parade. But how do the police produce an identifier, for instance, in the case of a suicide attack? Resultantly, there are cases after cases in which terrorists were arrested but then freed by courts because the evidence did not meet the specified parameters. Over 30 FIRs were registered in the Lal Masjid case and these are still pending, waiting for evidence, or dismissal — which is more likely to happen.
Even when there is evidence, as in the case of Malik Ishaq accused of committing about 70 murders, it were delays and hitches in the legal system that allowed enough time to pass and as that happened, the police officer and others who contributed to his being charged and eventually convicted, by a lower court, for being involved in the attack on the Khana-e-Farhang-e-Iran in Multan were targeted and killed. Interestingly, the judge, who had convicted Ishaq, left the country hours after he wrote the judgment. What is even more intriguing is the fact that the highest appellate court in this case, which is the Supreme Court, did not consider some of the evidence admissible and because of that Ishaq was freed. Some sources even talk about threats to senior judges as the case came up for hearing.
The Supreme Court is quite right in asking the government to pull up the police. But what the judges must also understand is that fighting the Taliban is a highly intense and integrated process that will not happen until all stakeholders come together, decide that they intend to fight this battle, and re-evaluate the operational mechanism of their respective institutions. The judiciary has a critical role to play in this and when some judges themselves have a reputation of being latent-radical, then the battle can’t be fought, let alone won. Perhaps, the senior judges may read decisions as in the Mukhtaran Mai case once again to assess how their notions of justice and what is right and wrong are so problematic that a battle against terrorism can’t be waged. The said decision is not about individual conservatism but about a certain mindset that can only strengthen the Taliban.
The writer is an independent social scientist and author of Military Inc.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 10th, 2012.
Taliban activities may have originally begun in these areas but they have, long since, spread their vicious tentacles throughout the country with southern Punjab often being pointed to as a Taliban stronghold, even though there is much controversy about the accuracy of those supporting this school of thought. And now, long after having established themselves in Karachi, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has finally acknowledged Taliban presence there and claims that something will be done about them which, coming from this gentleman is, as always, best taken with a pinch of the proverbial salt.
The fact of the matter is that either pure Taliban or a growing number of people exhibiting dyed-in-the-wool ‘Taliban tendencies’, are now to be found in almost every nook and cranny of the country. If, those of other persuasions — and one sincerely hopes that this is the majority — would take off their blinkers, open their eyes and accept the truth before it raises itself up and violently hits them in the face, would be far better off lest they get blown to kingdom come.
Signs of what can, quite literally, be considered ‘Talibanisation’ have been evident for some years now and are not only spreading but are fast becoming firmly entrenched in the largely uneducated mindset that prevails. As sickening as it is to admit, this is actively encouraged by a government, which does absolutely zilch to promote equal education for all and under its rule, the Taliban have destroyed, literally, hundreds of schools over recent years and educational standards have suffered a massive downfall.
Much of the media, too, is guilty of ‘under-reacting’ to the spread of the Taliban, and ‘Talibanisation’ in general, as few journalists have taken the trouble to analyse the growing menace from a seriously sensible point of view. Instead, in some misguided cases, they have opted to promote rather than decry those responsible for carrying out atrocities under the Taliban banner. The media segment, which has stood up and spoken out against the Taliban, particularly in condemning the attack on 15-year-old Malala, is now under threat itself with those located in Peshawar — now a no-go city for many — bearing the brunt and having to relocate to high security areas which, as history has proven time and time again, are never as secure as they are considered to be.
With targeted assassinations of anti-Taliban peace workers becoming more commonplace by the day, a general population that blindly refuses to see the writing on the wall, a failed educational system and a media under threat, Pakistan will soon be renamed ‘Talibistan’ unless there is an immediate awakening and necessary change is put in place.
The writer is author of The Gun Tree: One Woman’s War (Oxford University Press, 2001) and lives in Bhurban.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 10th, 2012.
Lo and behold, when lawyer Raja Mohammad Irshad (yes, you guessed right: the same Raja Mohammad Irshad who represented the ISI/MI in the Adiala 11-now-7 kidnapping/missing person’s case: four of them, shall we remind ourselves, found dumped by roadsides, beaten, starved and tortured to death) representing one Sardar Mohammad Ghazi told the court that the “… fact is that they (armed forces) have always respected the apex Court”, My Lord the Chief Justice responded saying, “Yes, we have witnessed it yesterday.”
The CJ was obviously referring to what was billed as the COAS’s ‘talk’ to officers at GHQ and which was released to the press by ISPR and published on November 6, in which, using a rather wide brush, he set out limits that “institutions” should not cross “in haste” and other such, what else should I call them but strictures. There is much else in the statement but since we have just mentioned the Adiala 11-now-7 disappeared/dead, let us first take up the bit about the “… haste to achieve something, which can have both positive and negative implications. Let us take a pause and examine the two fundamental questions; one, are we promoting the rule of law and the Constitution? Two, are we strengthening or weakening the institutions?”
Well sirs, where it comes to the disappeared and the missing, the ‘credit’ for which is given to the ‘agencies’ and the Frontier Corps, Balochistan, one can only salute the Chief Justices of the Supreme and Peshawar High Courts for having the courage to relentlessly pursue this matter and thereby helping in “promoting the rule of law and the Constitution”. And to insist on answers from the secretive, brutal and heartless goons who do what they do. Anyone with half a heart who has heard the cries of the families of these disappeared will unhesitatingly say: the pox on the “institutions” who disappear people who then turn up dead, or worse, tortured and dead.
Let me here and now, and one more time say unequivocally, that I am no friend of terrorists and those who would do our country, our soldiery and our people harm. All I demand is that the families at the very least be told that their loved ones are in custody on such and such charge and that they be tried in a court of law in the light of day. Indeed, the Army Act applies to many of these people so they could be tried in a military court. But to simply disappear people who then turn up dead, is not only cruel and inhuman, to use the COAS’s own word, it is totally “unacceptable”.
The COAS also said: “While individual mistakes might have been made by all of us in the country, these should be best left to the due process of law. As we all are striving for … the fundamental principle, that no one is guilty until proven … Let us not pre-judge anyone, be it a civilian or a military person and … undermine respective institutions.”
He is exactly right when he says “individual mistakes … should best be left to the due process of law”. How then, might one ask, is the recall to army service for court martial of three senior retired officers (I do not use the word ‘generals’ for that makes them so very ‘ghussa’ as we are told by the various and varied representatives of the Ghairat Brigades) accused of wrongdoing in the NLC “due process of law”?
These former officers are retired and should be tried by civilian courts, specially because the monies squandered are civilian funds. Indeed, does the COAS know that just three months ago, the former COAS of the Indian Army, General VK Singh; the sitting Vice COAS, Lt Gen SK Singh; the deputy head of their ISPR, Maj Gen SL Narsimhan; and a Colonel, Hitten Sawhney, had to go to the Metropolitan Magistrate of Delhi to get bail before arrest? If he doesn’t, ISPR should ‘put up’ the clipping of the story, which is widely available on the Internet.
COAS Kayani should also ponder these words, which he himself has said: “Let us not pre-judge anyone, be it a civilian or a military person and extend it, unnecessarily, to undermine respective institutions.” Who pray, has ‘undermined’ the army in this case? If anything, the army has undermined itself for opting for the absurdity of recalling retired generals so they are not tried by ‘bloody civilians’. The one institution that has been maligned is parliament with the media having open season on politicians.
Why was minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi jailed for over a year on allegations of corruption. All the media has done with the former army officers is ask questions which too were either answered rudely or not answered at all.
The jewel, however: “The integrity and cohesion of the armed forces is essentially based on the trust reposed in them by the people of Pakistan. Equally important is the trust between the leaders and the led of the armed forces. Any effort to create a distinction between the two undermines the very basis of this concept and is not tolerated, be it Pakistan or any other country.”
The people will only repose trust in them when the armed forces prove that they are part of the people and have not dropped out of the sky. As for creating a distinction between the “leaders and the led (sic) of the armed forces”, this distinction is promoted by the army itself by conflating allegations of corruption against generals to the sacrifices of those who are fighting on the front line.
One is grateful to General Kayani, however, for the fact that he recognises that “no individual or institution has the monopoly to decide what is right or wrong in defining the ultimate national interest”. Well said, General.
P.S.: Why use the term ‘armed forces’? Kayani was talking about the army, was he not?
Published in The Express Tribune, November 9th, 2012.
In 1960, Singapore was a relatively poor country. Along came Lee Kwan Yew and took charge as prime minister. The key to his economic policies was the development of a highly skilled workforce that could meet the needs of modern industrial research and manufacturing. Massive investments were made in education, science and technology. Yew developed an excellent infrastructure in order to attract foreign investments and established a corruption-free government. He realised that in order for Singapore to emerge from its problems, it had to make a drastic change in its national policies and become export-oriented. The manufacturing sector’s contribution of 14 per cent of GDP in 1964 jumped up to 24 per cent by 1978. The availability of high quality university graduates attracted foreign companies to invest massively in Singapore’s rapidly growing economy and a magical transformation began to occur. The unemployment rate that stood at 10 per cent in 1965 fell to 3.6 per cent by 1978.
During the subsequent eight-year period, the share of skilled employees in the total workforce increased from 11 per cent in 1978 to 22 per cent in 1985. With the establishment of high-tech industries, salaries also grew from an annual average of $18,400 in 1978 to $27,000 by 1985. Many value-added industries were set up with a particular focus on electronics, engineering goods and petrochemicals.
Singapore’s GDP was $12 billion in 1980 but has risen to above $250 billion, well above that of Pakistan. Some 3,000 multinational companies have set up operations and now biotechnology is being given a very high priority in the development plans. In 2000, Singapore declared biotechnology its fourth economic pillar, revamped its National Science & Technology Board (renaming it the Agency for Science, Technology and Research) and spent $570 million in establishing three biotechnology research institutes. In Pakistan, alas, the National Commission of Biotechnology that I had established when I was the minister of science and technology in 2001, was abolished by a subsequent government, as it considered biotechnology irrelevant to our national development. The National Commission for Nanotechnology, also established under my charge, met the same fate. Pakistan is about 36 times bigger in population and has far more natural resources than Singapore. Yet, it has a much smaller GDP than Singapore’s. The reason is rampant corruption at the highest levels and a lack of focus on education that can help us transition to a knowledge-driven economy.
Malaysia’s transformation under Mahathir Mohamad is also an eye-opener. Malaysia’s GDP shot up from $26 billion in 1970 to $300 billion at present, as a result of determined effort to transform Malaysia into a knowledge economy. Today, Malaysia contributes 86.5 per cent of all high technology exports from the Islamic world. The major focus of these is in the field of electronics, particularly microchips and semi-conductors. The per capita income also shot up from less than $1,000 in 1970 to $14,500.
Another single visionary leader, General Park Chung-hee, also made all the difference in one country, South Korea. Under General Park, South Korea’s per capita income rose from $72 in 1961 to above $30,000 and its GDP rose to an astonishing $1.12 trillion by placing emphasis on large-scale manufacturing of high technology goods, including electronics, automobiles, ships and steel industry.
Our present government approved an education policy under which seven per cent of GDP was to be spent on education with 20 per cent (1.4 per cent of our GDP) going to higher education. When will our leaders have the good sense to implement these policies? We must learn from the examples given above before it is too late. One good leader can make all the difference.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 9th, 2012.
Fata has emerged as our Wild West. Was there any attempt early in our history to bring the tribal people into the mainstream? Other than the announcement by the Quaid-e-Azam to withdraw troops from Fata and the creation of corrupt-to-the-core states and tribal affairs ministry at the centre, not much is known about efforts to develop the tribal areas. It seems that the area was rediscovered during the Afghan jihad. The first five-year plan, 1955-60, approved and published in 1957, analysed the development challenges faced in these areas in considerable detail. What follows here is a freely excerpted account of the symptoms, diagnosis and the prescription given by economic planners in the 1950s. Please read on and wonder, like I did, at our failure to act in time.
The tribal areas are an irregular 25,000 square mile strip of country, lying between the settled parts of the province and the frontier. They are divided among several agencies and areas, which come directly under deputy commissioners, but conditions vary so widely between and within each agency that many details of the methods of implementing a general policy must be left largely to the discretion of the man on the spot. This is not only true in respect of topography but also in respect of the administrative system, the character of tribal organisation and tradition and the tribesmen’s interest in development, willingness to cooperate, ability to undertake schemes and their relative sense of security to engage in productive enterprise.
For the most part, the territory is mountainous and barren, though there are some fertile valleys. The area is entirely rural and while there is an extensive system of strategic roads, villages are for the most part extremely inaccessible and the population very scattered. The mode of life, in certain respects, is very different from that of other areas of the north-west and of the rest of the country. The people have a tribal organisation, the administrative organ of which is a jirga or a council of elders, a highly democratic body of which a malik is the spokesman, who is of strong character, may exercise a very important function as a leader, though of a somewhat informal sort. But maliks cannot commit their jirgas and corporate action can only occur after the jirga has come to a unanimous decision, which is binding on all.
The role of the political agent is to look after the interest of the government and the welfare of the tribal people within the framework of the jirgas and against a background of institutional tribal life. Administrative difficulties arise from the fact that the tribal areas are not subject to the general law of the land, being exempt from taxation, police authority and from other laws. But this does not necessarily mean that the areas are disorderly. In fact, they are subject to a very rigid code of tribal custom, sternly and vigorously applied by the jirgas, which protects the community from crime and from the violation of community taboos. It may be mentioned, however, that the institution of the blood-feud in certain areas brings some hazard to life and may cause considerable anxiety and uncertainty to many families. This institution certainly retarded economic and social development and is inconsistent with the idea of progress held by most of the tribesmen themselves.
In the past, the tribal areas had been extremely unsettled and were garrisoned by large military forces. This meant that efforts towards material development were not made with any great consistency or success. In recent years, the atmosphere has greatly changed. Except for a number of malcontents, the majority of tribesmen are thankful to be citizens of Pakistan. On the one hand, the number of regular troops in the areas has been enormously reduced, while on the other, the number of schools, hospitals, dispensaries and the like has greatly increased. A substantial number of scholarships are given for higher studies outside the tribal areas. There is much evidence that these things are being increasingly appreciated and demanded by the tribesmen. There has also been some effort to stimulate cottage industries and to train people so that they could work for them. There have been advances in irrigation, land reclamation and in forestry work. Development on the edge of the tribal areas has also had important repercussions. The PIDC Woollen Mills at Bannu, for instance, offers a local market for wool from the tribal belt and also employment to some tribal workers; there are proposals for using its needs and expert guidance to develop related cottage industries. The Kurram Gharri and the Warsak Dams have also offered tribesmen the experience of regular paid employment.
(To be concluded)
Published in The Express Tribune, November 9th, 2012.
The arrest on November 7 of a television journalist in Mangalore for not preventing the violent attack by Hindu extremists on a group of boys and girls at a birthday party raises again the question of the role of media as a possible maker of violence. Does the presence of a TV camera or the promise of wide exposure in itself stimulate the performance of violent acts?
In this instance, activists of the Hindu Jagarana Vedike barged into a July 28 birthday celebration at a homestay resort in Mangalore, partly stripped and molested five girls and beat up seven boys in vigilante action to protect “Indian culture”. The attack was extensively captured on camera by a reporter, Naveen Soorinje of Kasturi TV, who had been alerted about the planned attack. The footage was repeatedly shown on many news channels. Soorinje has now been remanded in judicial custody till November 20. The police, criticised by fellow journalists for “shooting the messenger”, said they were executing a court warrant.
Journalists and liberal activists in Mangalore have called this an attack on the freedom of the media but the police maintain that since Soorinje had prior information about the attack, he should have made efforts to contact the police before it took place. The implication is that TV news professionals look for sensational footage to get more eyeballs in an increasingly competitive environment of 24/7 news channels, always looking to break news. And the vigilantes themselves
look for coverage and even ‘sex up’ the action for the camera.
On July 9, Indian viewers watched horrifying footage of the obscene attack on a 17-year-old girl on her way home from another birthday party at a night club in Guwahati, Assam. The footage captured by a reporter of NewsLive TV showed about 30 men molesting the poor girl in a posh area of the city while bystanders watched the action. The Assam police said they have no record of a call for help from any media organisation during the time of the attack. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said, “I cannot approve the fact that the TV crew went on rolling their tapes for almost 45 minutes without making efforts to save the girl.” TV reporter Gaurav Jyoti Neog was arrested on charges of instigating obscene acts against a woman. The footage became a national television sensation and went viral on YouTube.
The question of the media’s role as observer or responsive agency was poignantly posed in the case of South African photojournalist Kevin Carter. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his 1993 photograph of a starving child in Sudan being watched by a vulture nearby, Carter was widely criticised for taking the picture and leaving without helping the girl, who was trying to get to a feeding centre. The accompanying New York Times story had said it was not known whether the girl made it to the centre. Carter said he left because he had finished his ‘job’. “The man adjusting his lens to take just the right frame of her suffering might just as well be a predator, another vulture on the scene,” one newspaper said. Carter committed suicide in 1994.
In the Mangalore case, the morality in operation seems to be of a different nature. The chairperson of the State’s Commission for Women, C Manjula, an appointee of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, submitted a report finding fault with the young people at the birthday party, hinting that they were consuming drugs and involved in prostitution. But the police investigation clearly said there was no evidence of drug abuse at the birthday party. Liberal activists suggest that the police action against the TV journalist in the Mangalore instance is retaliation against the repeated exposes of Hindu extremist action in the district, which has traditionally been a BJP stronghold. In another much-televised attack on a pub in 2009 by activists of the Sri Rama Sene, Hindu activists were captured on camera molesting girls and beating up boys for drinking alcohol. A case was filed but not much came of it for the accused, Subhash Padil, who led the birthday party attack this July.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 9th, 2012.
Thus you had the Democrat, Harry Truman, who invited Liaquat Ali Khan to Washington and kicked off the alliance between the two countries to forestall a proposed Pakistani visit to Moscow. Truman himself greeted Liaquat at the airport, not because of any personal fondness he had for our prime minister, but because he considered this a vital visit. And it was his successor, the Republican Dwight Eisenhower, who cajoled Pakistan to sign the anti-Communist SEATO and CENTO treaties, again, not out of love and goodwill for Pakistan, but because it suited the American’s Cold War needs. Similarly, Republican Ronald Regan was willing to overlook the fact that the US embassy in Islamabad had been attacked to embrace General Ziaul Haq after he portrayed himself as indispensable in the fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan.
On the flip side, the Democrat Bill Clinton did not harbour any particular animosity against Nawaz Sharif or General (retd) Pervez Musharraf; it’s just that we were no longer so vital after the Cold War and so there was no need to pretend our nuclear programme was not a source of worry.
The Republicans-are-better-for-us canard continues to persist, which is why many were optimistic about a possible Mitt Romney win. Just as there was no reason to be optimistic that he may snatch the presidential election, there is equally little cause to be despondent about President Barack Obama’s triumph. For Pakistan, the US presidential election is just a whole lot of white noise.
We are in the strange position of being showered with both US dollars and bombs and both would have continued to rain down no matter who the president. As is there in just about every other crucial matter of foreign policy, the bipartisan consensus in DC is that Pakistan needs to be kept afloat so that the terrorists don’t take over and that drone attacks are the best way to eliminate terrorists.
If there is to be any change in US policy, it will be dictated by changing circumstances. Once the US starts reducing its troop levels in Afghanistan, there is a possibility that the Taliban will enter a power-sharing agreement or even take outright control. Consigning themselves to that fate, President Obama and whoever succeeds him may just decide that the Haqqani network and other Afghan Taliban groups can be endured rather than eliminated.
Similarly, our own upcoming elections are hardly likely to change the Pakistan-US equation either. Our politicians love campaigning on a populist anti-American platform but quickly adjust to reality. Recall Nawaz Sharif, so willing to defy the US when it came to our nuclear tests, meeting Clinton after the Kargil fiasco. Our political and military class has decided that, for the most part, our national security needs require US assistance. Ignore the rhetoric and look at the reality of cooperation. It is going to require more than the ballot box to change that. Republican or Democrat, the PML-N or the PPP: these are choices that hold little bearing in our relationship with the US.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 9th, 2012.