Lanky's Blog: April 2011

Sixty years ago, Abdul Sattar Edhi, 82, gave up everything to devote his life to helping Pakistan's poorest. Here, Peter Oborne hails a truly selfless spiritual sage

Abdul Sattar Edhi, who has established homes across Pakistan for the mentally ill

In the course of my duties as a reporter, I have met presidents, prime ministers and reigning monarchs.

Until meeting the Pakistani social worker Abdul Sattar Edhi, I had never met a saint. Within a few moments of shaking hands, I knew I was in the presence of moral and spiritual greatness.

Mr Edhi's life story is awesome, as I learnt when I spent two weeks working at one of his ambulance centres in Karachi.

The 82-year-old lives in the austerity that has been his hallmark all his life. He wears blue overalls and sports a Jinnah cap, so named because it was the head gear of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan.

No Pakistani since Jinnah has commanded the same reverence, and our conversations were constantly interrupted as people came to pay their respects.

Mr Edhi told me that, 60 years ago, he stood on a street corner in Karachi and begged for money for an ambulance, raising enough to buy a battered old van. In it, he set out on countless life-saving missions.

Gradually, Mr Edhi set up centres all over Pakistan. He diversified into orphanages, homes for the mentally ill, drug rehabilitation centres and hostels for abandoned women. He fed the poor and buried the dead. His compassion was boundless.

He was born in 1928, when the British Empire was at its height, in Gujarat in what is now western India. But he and his family were forced to flee for their lives in 1947 when the division of India and creation of Pakistan inspired terrible communal tensions: millions were killed in mob violence and ethnic cleansing.

This was the moment Mr Edhi, finding himself penniless on the streets of Karachi, set out on his life's mission.

Just 20 years old, he volunteered to join a charity run by the Memons, the Islamic religious community to which his family belonged.

At first, Mr Edhi welcomed his duties; then he was appalled to discover that the charity's compassion was confined to Memons.

He confronted his employers, telling them that "humanitarian work loses its significance when you discriminate between the needy".

So he set up a small medical centre of his own, sleeping on the cement bench outside his shop so that even those who came late at night could be served.

But he also had to face the enmity of the Memons, and became convinced they were capable of having him killed. For safety, and in search of knowledge, he set out on an overland journey to Europe, begging all the way.

One morning, he awoke on a bench at Rome railway station to discover his shoes had been stolen. He was not bothered, considering them inessential.

Nevertheless, the next day an elderly lady gave him a pair of gumboots, two sizes too large, and Mr Edhi wobbled about in them for the remainder of his journey.

In London, he was a great admirer of the British welfare state, though he presciently noted its potential to encourage a culture of dependency. He was offered a job but refused, telling his benefactor: "I have to do something for the people in Pakistan."

On return from Europe, his destiny was set. There was no welfare state in Fifties Pakistan: he would fill the gap. This was a difficult period in his life. Shabby, bearded and with no obvious prospects, seven women in rapid succession turned down his offers of marriage. He resigned himself to chastity and threw all of his energy into work.

He would hurtle round the province of Sindh in his poor man's ambulance, collecting dead bodies, taking them to the police station, waiting for the death certificate and, if the bodies were not claimed, burying them himself.

Mr Edhi's autobiography, published in 1996, records that he recovered these stinking cadavers "from rivers, from inside wells, from road sides, accident sites and hospitals… When families forsook them, and authorities threw them away, I picked them up… Then I bathed and cared for each and every victim of circumstance."

There is a photograph of Mr Edhi from this formative time. It could be the face of a young revolutionary or poet: dark beard, piercing, passionate eyes. And it is indeed the case that parts of his profound and moving autobiography carry the same weight and integrity as great poetry or even scripture.

Mr Edhi discovered that many Pakistani women were killing their babies at birth, often because they were born outside marriage.

One newborn child was stoned to death outside a mosque on the orders of religious leaders. A furious Mr Edhi responded: "Who can declare an infant guilty when there is no concept of punishing the innocent?"

So Mr Edhi placed a little cradle outside every Edhi centre, beneath a placard imploring: "Do not commit another sin: leave your baby in our care." Mr Edhi has so far saved 35,000 babies and, in approximately half of these cases, found families to cherish them.

Once again, this practice brought him into conflict with religious leaders. They claimed that adopted children could not inherit their parents' wealth. Mr Edhi told them their objections contradicted the supreme idea of religion, declaring: "Beware of those who attribute petty instructions to God."

Over time, Mr Edhi came to exercise such a vast moral authority that Pakistan's corrupt politicians had to pay court. In 1982, General Zia announced the establishment of a shura (advisory council) to determine matters of state according to Islamic principles.

Mr Edhi was suspicious: "I represented the millions of downtrodden, and was aware that my presence gave the required credibility to an illegal rule."

Travelling to Rawalpindi to speak at the national assembly, he delivered a passionate denunciation of political corruption, telling an audience of MPs, including Zia himself: "The people have been neglected long enough.

"One day they shall rise like mad men and pull down these walls that keep their future captive. Mark my words and heed them before you find yourselves the prey instead of the predator."

Mr Edhi did not distinguish between politicians and criminals, asking: "Why should I condemn a declared dacoit [bandit] and not condemn the respectable villain who enjoys his spoils as if he achieved them by some noble means?"

This impartiality had its advantages. It meant that a truce would be declared when Mr Edhi and his ambulance arrived at the scene of gun battles between police and gangsters.

"They would cease fire," notes Mr Edhi in his autobiography, "until bodies were carried to the ambulance, the engine would start and shooting would resume."

Mr Edhi eventually found a wife, Bilquis, but his personal austerity was all but incompatible with married life. When the family went on Hajj, a vast overland journey in the ambulance, he forbade Bilquis to bring extra clothes, because he was determined to fill the vehicle with medical supplies.

Reaching Quetta in northern Baluchistan, with the temperature plunging, he relented enough to allow her to buy a Russian soldier's overcoat. Later on, when their children grew up, Mr Edhi would not find time to attend his daughter's marriage.

But Mr Edhi's epic achievement would not have been possible but for this inhuman single-mindedness. Today, the influence of the Edhi Foundation stretches far outside Pakistan and Mr Edhi has led relief missions across the Muslim world, providing aid at every international emergency from the Lebanon civil war in 1983 to the Bangladesh cyclone in 2007.

There are no horrors that Mr Edhi and his incredibly brave army of ambulance men have not witnessed, and the numerous lives they have saved.

The story of Mr Edhi coincides with the history of the Pakistan state. More than any other living figure, he articulates Jinnah's vision of a country which, while based on Islam, nevertheless offers a welcome for people of all faiths and sects. Indeed, the life of Mr Edhi provides a sad commentary on the betrayal of Jinnah's Pakistan by a self-interested political class.

One evening, as the sun set over Karachi, I asked Mr Edhi what future he foresaw. "Unless things change," he said, "I predict a revolution."

Friday, April 15, 2011

The implications for Pakistan

By Khalid Aziz | From the Dawn Newspaper 15 April 2011

IN a meeting of NATO heads of state in Lisbon last November, it was decided that foreign forces would withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. The meeting envisaged the handing over of security duties to Afghan forces.

We will analyse this briefly later; we have as yet not thought about what implications this decision has for Pakistan. What will be the impact of this change? What will be the effect of the handing over of security duties to the Afghan National Army (ANA) in the Pakhtun belt of Afghanistan when its current recruitment pattern creates ethnic imbalances?

Will the envisaged counter-terrorism wall around the Pakhtun belt as proposed under the Blackwill Plan threaten the future viability of Pakistan? Will it not create insecurity for the whole of South Asia?

What needs to be done in Fata — shouldn`t reforms be speeded up so that the space is denied to future interlopers? Abdullah Azzam, Osama`s mentor, looked at Fata with the eyes of a strategist when he said in his famous jihad fatwa: “There are more than 3,000km of open border in Afghanistan and regions of tribes not under political influence. This forms a protective shield for [the] Mujahideen.”

It is obvious that Fata is looked upon as a home base by extremists in their future strategies for the region. Fata reforms can deny this space, but are we positioned to reform politically? Shouldn`t these reforms have been incorporated in the 18th Amendment?

Pakistan is like a patient of severe schizophrenia. It remains in a state of denial though. The objective of our creation amongst other reasons was Britain`s desire to have a security state in north South Asia to guard its imperial interests against Soviet intrusion as well as to protect its oil interest in Iran and the Persian Gulf after the independence of India. Pakistan`s use as a security state prevented the country from becoming people-centric.

Thus Pakistan`s citizens have remained secondary to the goals of the state; except for some parts of Punjab and Sindh that have grown and developed, most of Fata, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan are ignored as ramparts protecting this heartland.

Those who live in the peripheries have become victims of this security agenda; they die or are displaced in their hundreds. Fata, after 63 years of independence, has a sorry literacy rate of 17.6 per cent; Khyber Pakhtunkhwa still does not have total provincial autonomy. Almost 25 per cent of its area in Malakand, that elects 25 MPAs entitled to legislate for the province, cannot make laws for Malakand because like Fata it is an area under Article 246 of the constitution and is directly under the president. Is it thus a coincidence that the uprising against the state in the northwest occurs in areas under Article 246?

As in other critical matters, we have lost time in implementing reforms and this delay has now created a future impasse — when the proposed withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan starts in 2014. Obviously, the withdrawal will never be complete and there will a counter-terrorist force in place.

It is conceived that the withdrawal from Afghanistan will be contingent upon the enhancement of the Afghan security capacity. Given the current high desertion and absenteeism rates in the Afghan forces it is not understood how this capacity will be attained on schedule. Secondly, not enough Pakhtuns from the insurgency-affected regions of southern and eastern Afghanistan are recruited; this will make future counter-terrorism policing difficult.

One important proposal suggested for containing the Taliban within southern and eastern Afghanistan is the Blackwill Plan which proposes to partition Afghanistan in two; the Pakhtun belt will be blocked by a northern defensive line very much like the Maginot Line to prevent the Taliban from intruding in the north. This plan, however, is quiet on what happens to the Pakhtun areas in Pakistan.

Blackwill feels that the contagion of Talibanisation will be kept within manageable limits by the special forces and drone attacks. The big imponderable is that though northern Afghanistan will be protected from a Taliban outbreak, the Pakistani Pakhtun belt will become the soft underbelly for the Afghan Taliban. The Blackwill Plan will create an existentialist threat for Pakistan and may lead to the creation of a separate Pakhtun identity forged by the de facto partition. An unstable Pakistan is not good news.

Under such circumstances are Fata reforms possible? Yes, but these will require political will. However, I seriously doubt the ability of the present political dispensation to deal effectively with the issues that Pakistan faces in the fields of security, finance, governance, water and energy resources and development.

What is needed is an effective and agile pivot composed of a representative system that reflects democratic governance and a sound leadership that is not blackmailed by parliamentary caucuses indifferent to the agony of the common man. It begs the question whether the time has come for making fundamental changes to the design of our constitution to locate a powerful president who is directly elected and functions with the support of a bicameral legislature at the centre and directly elected chief ministers in the provinces.

In order to end the stranglehold of special interests the new system ought to be anchored on the alternate vote system.

Fata and other important reforms thus should engage us simultaneously if we wish to end the continuous bloodletting and institutional decay that Pakistan has witnessed since 2004. Postponement of reforms is an invitation to chaos.

The writer is chairman of the Regional Institute of Policy Research in Peshawar.

azizkhalid@gmail.com

The Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore

Sir Ganga Ram's Samadhi

Samadhi of Sir Ganga Ram is located on Ravi Road, in the locality of Karim Park. It is an imposing structure built in 1927 in the style of a Mughal baradari and is topped by a raised bulbous dome. On the inside, it is a rather simple structure owing to renovation following the damage done to the building during the riots of 1992, after the demolition of Babri Mosque in India. Currently, it is quickly being encroached upon and is in dire need of attention from the relevant authorities.

Sir Ganga Ram, the great son of Punjab, was born in 1851 in Mangtanwala, a small town about 64 km from Lahore. From the beginning, he proved to be a brilliant student and in 1869, he joined the Government College in Lahore on a scholarship. In 1871, he obtained a scholarship to the Thompson Engineering College at Roorkee, India. He graduated in 1873 and was awarded with a gold medal.

In 1873, he was appointed to Lahore in the engineering department, where he served under Rai Bahadur Kanhaiya Lal, the Executive Engineer, and author of the distinguished “History of Lahore”. In 1885, he was appointed Assistant Engineer at Lahore. Here, he supervised the construction of the new High Court Building and the beautiful Lahore Cathedral. He occasionally officiated as Executive Engineer, and four years later became Special Engineer for the design and construction of Aitchison College, where he worked in conjunction with Bhai Ram Singh. Finally, once his work at Aitchison College was completed, Ganga Ram was promoted to the post of Executive Engineer of the Lahore Division, occupying the chair he had once sat in as a lowly student, but which he could now occupy in his own right.

The City of Lahore substantially owes its metalled streets, its paved lanes and its properly laid drains to Ganga Ram's unstinting efforts. In 1900, Ganga Ram was selected by Lord Curzon to act as Superintendent of Works in the Imperial Durbar to be held in Delhi in connection with the accession of King Edward VII.

In 1917, he applied for 23,000 acres of barren, unirrigated land in Montgomery District near Bari Doab Canal. The land was situated on higher ground and he could only water it by the lift irrigation system. He was successful in his endeavours, and his arid acres soon turned into tracts of rich soil. He was then leased another 40,000 acres of higher ground land for a period of seven years, which he was able to irrigate successfully once again. He constructed a hydro-electric station on the Bari Doab Canal, and was able to complete his project within the time limit given to him. By 1925, he had constructed 75 miles of irrigation channels, 625 miles of water courses, 45 bridges, 565 miles of village roads, and 121 miles of boundary roads, all at his own cost – the list of his achievements is endless. Altogether 89,000 acres of waste land had been developed successfully by this miracle worker. This was the biggest private enterprise of the kind, unknown and unthought-of in the country before. By now he was 70, and in 1922 he was recommended for a richly deserved knighthood by the then Governor of Punjab, Sir Edward Maclagan.

Sir Ganga Ram’s services to education included the establishment of the Lady Maclagan School for Girls and Punjab’s first college of commerce, Hailey College, was made possible by a donation of his residential building “Nabha House” opposite the University Grounds for exclusive use to establish a College of Commerce.

However, the most impressive charitable act of all performed by him was the construction of the Sir Ganga Ram Free Hospital. In 1921, he purchased a piece of land at the junction of Queen’s Road and Lawrence Road to construct a hospital building at a cost of Rupees 131,500 which was open to the needy, irrespective of caste or creed. In 1923 the hospital was taken over by the Ganga Ram Trust Society, and today it ranks second only to Mayo Hospital in its services to the people of Lahore.

In 1927, Sir Ganga Ram traveled to London where he suffered a heart attack and passed away at his London home. The cremation ceremony took place at the Golders Green Crematorium, and was attended by dignitaries befitting a man of his stature. His ashes were brought back to India by his son, and the main portion of these were scattered in the waters of the Ganges, where about ten thousand people attended the ceremony. The remaining ashes were then taken to Lahore, and the urn containing his ashes was bedecked with roses and jasmine blossoms. It was carried on the back of a magnificently caparisoned Kotul horse from his house to the Town Hall and then to his samadhi near Taxali Gate. The crowds chanted ‘Gharibon key wali ki jai’ (Long Live the Friend of the Poor) as the procession wended its way towards the old city. After his death and right up to 1947, on Baisakhi Day a great fair used to be held in honour of him.

A statue of Sir Ganga Ram once stood on Mall Road outside Lahore Museum. Saadat Hasan Manto, a famous Urdu writer, relates a shameful incident that occurred during the frenzy of religious riots of 1947 when an inflamed mob in Lahore, attacked the statue of Sir Ganga Ram. They first pelted the statue with stones; then smothered its face with coal tar. Then a man made a garland of old shoes and climbed up to put it round the neck of the statue. He was shot by the police and as he fell to the ground, ironically the mob shouted: “Let us rush him to Ganga Ram Hospital.”

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Report on the Water Situation in Pakistan April 05, 2011

by Khurshed Anwar

Please see brief excerpts from a news report which is attached - KA

Tarbela Dam has only 10 days water to meet the current irrigation requirements

Abmormal drop in Indus River flows caused by slow meltdown of glacier (climate change).

Tarbela dam level is dropping daily.

Inflow – 29,700 cusecs. Outflow – 43,000 cusecs

Total generation - 10,487 MW. Hydropower share - 3,194 MW
This will plunge heavily if the current state of water inflows persists in the days to come

Enough water for the provinces only for another week or so.

Total storage is less than one MAF .... (KBD - 6.1 maf)

Tarbela dam level – 1,388 feet .... Dead level – 1,378 feet

i.e. 10 feet of water = 0.15 maf

Mangla dam = 0.6 maf. Others – 0.5 maf

Not received additional water from our major source, the Glaciers.

Rainfall took place only in upper areas like Islamabad,

not in the catchments areas of the rivers,

or directly at the canal irrigation lands.

Irsa might face an abnormal situation for a small while if the current water availability position continues to exist for more than 10 days.

Despite all above, chairman Irsa has claimed there was no panic or a disturbing situation in the country as far as water is concerned !!!

Water good for 10 days left at Tarbela

Dilshad Azeem
Tuesday, April 05, 2011

ISLAMABAD: The country’s largest reservoir at Tarbela Dam has been left with just 10 days water to meet the current irrigation requirements and to maintain already dropped down hydropower generation, The News has learnt.
“An abnormal drop in Indus River flows has been caused by slow meltdown of glaciers, the main source of water for Pakistan,” says Indus River System Authority (Irsa) here on Monday.

In a compelling situation, Tarbela Dam’s level is falling down with 12,000 cusecs daily as its outflow is being maintained at 43,000 cusecs against 29,700 cusecs per day inflow.
Overall, out of 10,487MW of electricity generation on Monday, the hydropower share was 3,194MW including from Tarbela and Mangla dams besides barrages and small units.
“It would plunge heavily if the current state of water inflows persists in the days to come,” say Wapda officials. The Punjab Irrigation Department is being provided 70,000 and Sindh 45,000 cusecs daily as the situation is fast heading towards an alarming stage in next 7-10 days.

“We have enough water to provide full indents to the provinces for another week or so amid abnormal water availability in Indus River,” Irsa chairman Rao Irshad Ali Khan said, while confirming the current water picture.
As the country’s total storage stands at less than one MAF, Tarbela has merely 10 feet or 0.15MAF of water available for discharge as its current level stands at 1,388 feet against 1,378 feet dead level. Merely 0.6MAF is in Mangla Dam and 0.5MAF at barrages and small reservoirs.

Irsa chairman Rao Irshad said the additional water should have been available in Indus in current Kharif month. He disagreed that a dangerous situation was about to come, saying: “One cannot describe it an alarming situation as we would re-plan water releases after waiting at least for a week or 10 days”.

Rao was hopeful that Mangla Dam had enough availability and is safe as far as available storage is concerned. “We, Irsa, is giving water to Sindh province in accordance with its indent with 45,000 cusecs at Chashma downstream discharge.”
“The Indus influx and inflows from Kabul River, contributing 21,000 cusecs, enable us to ensure the provision also to Punjab having demand of 70,000 cusecs. Punjab gets water from Mangla as well as from other sources.”

“Yes this is change of global weather and we have not received additional water from our major source, the Glacier, due to insufficient temperature,” he said. Rao said the recent rains left pleasant weather in Islamabad on the one hand but adversely affected Indus flows. “The rainfall took place only in upper areas like Islamabad, not in the catchments areas of the rivers or directly at the canal fed irrigation lands.”

“Tarbela Dam often touches the dead level in early March, but our planning to counter any abnormal situation has enabled us to take and ensure the supplies as per provincial demands.”
Rao admitted that Irsa might face an abnormal situation for a small while if the current water availability position continues to exist for more than 10 days. “And definitely we would chalk out a fresh strategy in that case.”

The Irsa chairman claimed that there was no panic or a disturbing situation in the country as far as water is concerned. “Things will improve with availability of water in the system,” he added.

Bhutto, Bhutto, Bhutto, and more Bhutto

by Khurshid Anwer

I am a very depressed person today. I don’t see any hope for this country as long as the cursed Bhutto name is around.

A very ordinary looking person representing the government on a TV channel was just now ranting incessantly, a la Sharmila Faruqi, flailing his arms, all but frothing at the mouth, hurling threats at Ahmed Raza Kasuri sitting next to him, with the helpless anchor person looking on. The man could not have been more worked up if the Holy Prophet (PBUH) had been insulted.

It is sickening to see the manner in which the demagogue Bhutto has mesmerized his followers, young and old. Unheard of and unseen in any other political party of the country. Confirming PPP as a cult rather than a political party, complete with doting Devotees of the Deities - the Father, the Daughter and the Holy Ghost.

WE are being told that the mild mannered, soft spoken Bhutto could not possibly have had any motive in ordering the attacks on Kasuri. Then it must have been some one having a personal grudge against Kasuri, who got his friends in the FSF to carry out the attack wearing FSF uniforms, using FSF weapons and FSF ammunition, in order to divert attention away from himself.

What a wonderful way to run (or ruin) a country. Nothing on the air waves these days other than Bhutto, Bhutto, Bhutto and more Bhutto. All else is forgotten, as if to resurrect Bhutto is the end all and be all of Pakistan's problems.

This is as bad as what Musharraf did when he thought the supreme court was going to rule against him.

Monday, April 4, 2011

What do the initials CM stand for?

A fine young man in his prime has passed on, only because one man has become incompetent! The Highways are not safe because his traffic Police is failing in their responsibility to the residents of Punjab, and the Hospitals & Emergency Units are failing in providing an acceptable level of service to the needy people of the Punjab, all because he and his civil servants have made it an ego matter in resolving the dispute with the medical staff employed by the Province of Punjab! Public servants whose wages are paid by the taxes we the people of Punjab, pay to the treasury, the treasury benches have no conscience either! Chief Minister you have herewith been redesignated Chief Murderer due to all the deaths that occuring in punjab for the lack of medical attention!

Use of Sindh Card – when, how and why

by Shaheen Sehbai –

DUBAI: With April 11 set by the Supreme Court for hearing of the NRO review petition and appointment of judges cases, the PPP strategy to go for an open, full-scale confrontation with the apex court is now a declared policy. The stage has been set for the final showdown, a path the PPP bigwigs have, hopefully, chosen after careful thinking and deliberations.
This strategy could become a make-or-break decision for the current PPP leadership and appears to be a desperate move. But one thing is certain: the Supreme Court has been pushed into this battle and it has no option but to win as the survival of the whole judicial system has been put at stake besides the honour, integrity and even survival of the judges themselves.

If the PPP thinks, or succeeds, in pressuring, bulldozing, defying or subjugating the current independent judiciary, the country will roll back into the era of the Dogar and ZA Bhutto courts. Who suffered at the hands of those spineless men of straw sitting in what were wrongfully called “Supreme” Courts is a part of history but what is obvious is that their main targets were democracy, the political process and politicians.

So why the PPP has chosen to go back to that era is a million dollar question. When popularly elected leadership decides that it does not need, or want, or tolerate an independent judiciary, who can stop gun-totting adventurers from using pliant cowards sitting on the SC benches to once again uproot, maim and disrupt democracy?
One answer can be that this time the PPP thinks it will defeat the court and use a subjugated bench to first save its top leaders and then manipulate the judicial process to its advantage, as the Dogar court before Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry was doing, first to serve General Musharraf and then the PPP. This may be a misguided belief in some over-zealous or over-confident minds.

Another plausible explanation can be that given its tentative coalition situation and sensing that it is unable to carry on its agenda in parliament, the PPP has started preparing for a mid-term election. But it needs a soft political target and someone to blame for the massive failures in governance and giving a visionary leadership, which may have strengthened the democratic process.
Because it has over-stretched the reconciliation mantra for too long, the party also needs an immediate cause, and an enemy to stir up the Sindh Card and activate its support base. Instead of targeting the political rivals, it has also picked up the Supreme Court mainly for the over-riding reason that the judges have put the personal survival of the party’s top leadership at stake through the NRO case, the Swiss bank cases, the dual office issue and involvement of near and dear ones of the prime minister in mega scandals.

The PPP is attacking the SC from many sides, knowing well that the judges have no guns to pay them back in the same coin. (Those who have, the PPP concedes to every demand they make). A massive show of strength, possibly to intimidate the judges, was orchestrated under the leadership of Zulfikar Mirza in Islamabad in the case against Taj Haider and Sharjeel Memon on Friday. High voltage statements were issued. Besides a physical show of the Sindhi ajrak and topi, Mr Mirza surprisingly said Sindhis were being treated like Bengalis. How and when? He also threatened that if Taj Haider and Sharjeel were jailed, the entire PPP leadership will go to jail. What did he mean?
All these belligerent outbursts against the court and the judges were mixed rather sheepishly with the oft-repeated mantra of “We do and will respect the judiciary”.

The opening salvo of the PPP strategy was the call for Sindh-wide protests on the sacking of NAB chief Deedar Shah. Reopening the ZA Bhutto case is another calculated googly to play psy-games with the SC judges. Zulfikar Mirza was blunt when he spoke outside the SC on Friday, attacking Justice Nasim Hasan Shah because his picture was on the wall of the SC among other chief justices.
All this has been planned while non-implementation of key SC judgments continues. Delaying tactics are to be employed to get full mileage out of the Sindh Card, declaring the PPP once again as “Martyrs-R-Us”. The demand for a 60-day extension for Taj Haider and Sharjeel to prepare their statements was deliberate.

The irony is that the SC judges, the political parties, the Establishment and the media, all can see through this PPP strategy, understanding full well what is being done to achieve what purpose. The court did not accept the 60-day demand and gave the PPP Jialas only a couple of weeks. Not without reason, the SC also suspended the other hotwire case of appointment of judges till April 11 when a full bench will start hearing the NRO case. So mid-April has thus been set as the timeline for this marathon PPP-SC encounter.

On the macro level, grave concerns have arisen because of this confrontation. This situation has come to the present deadlock because of just one fly in the ointment — the Swiss cases of money laundering and the dual office case of PPP co-chairman. As the largest political party of the country, the collective leadership of the PPP has failed miserably and has been manipulated cleverly by a small group of people to protect the interests and assets of just one man.
Whereas this elected leadership should have joined hands with others to address the monumental social, economic and security issues crushing the nation, the miseries of the masses have been brushed aside by these confrontational policies diverting attention from the everyday bombings on the street, the dacoities in the name of price hikes, super-inflation unleashed by massive borrowing from local and international banks and the political turmoil being caused within the coalition ranks.

This chaos at the national scene cannot be sustained and the Supreme Court has done the right thing by clubbing and addressing all these critical issues together in the next couple of weeks. It is now time that the bluff of the Sindh Card be called, the judicial proceedings in all these high voltage cases be ended and clear, unambiguous and courageous judgments be given.
Let then the chips fall where they may. Let then the country’s permanent establishment decide on which side they want to stand. Let everyone who has to make this country run share the credit, or the blame, if things come to a grinding halt. This has to be done quickly because the deadly Middle East virus now gripping monarchies, sultanates, dictatorships and republics is already looking menacingly at Pakistan.

The poor and the deprived, depraved masses are already on the streets every day protesting one injustice or the other. Political leaders who are part of the problem keep shouting about a revolution, probably against themselves. The security apparatus is thinly stretched to fight many unnecessary wars. Only two beacons of light, the judiciary and the media, provide some hope but those trying to protect their own ill-gotten riches are bent upon destroying both these institutions.

If they succeed, what would be left to prevent a total free fall? And who will gain from it? Everyone must think hard now. Extremists, secessionists, gunrunners, terrorists, warlords? Please make up your own list!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Declassified Papers


Liaquat Ali Khan

ALKHOBAR, 18 July 2006 —

Oil, Iran and air bases, seem to be issues of recent times. Not indeed. It was some 55 years back that these issues were very much in play and a recently declassified document indicates that these were the reasons behind the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan, Pakistan’s first prime minister on Oct. 16, 1951.
Like a number of other high-profile killings, the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan, has also remained a mystery. Conspiracy theories abound, yet are difficult to substantiate.

A recent declassified document from the US State Department brings to light some interesting facts. According to the document, a telegram was sent by the American Embassy in New Delhi on Oct. 30, 1951.
“Is Liaquat Ali Khan’s assassination a result of a deep-laid American conspiracy?” The telegram from the US Embassy in New Delhi carried the summary of an article published in the Urdu daily of Bhopal, “Nadeem” on Oct. 24, 1951, charging the US with the responsibility of Khan’s death.

The summary then points to the facts raised in the Nadeem article, “It was neither a local incident nor connected with the Pashtoonistan movement (as some may have believed then). It had behind it a deep-rooted conspiracy and recognizable hand.”

The article then says that the then Afghan government “knew about the conspiracy and the assassin was an Afghan, yet, the plot was hatched neither in Kabul nor in Karachi (the then capital of Pakistan).”
The declassified document reveals that the day before assassination, the secretary to the American ambassador in Karachi absent-mindedly jotted down “holiday” for Oct. 19 in a table diary and then immediately struck it off.
Following the secretary’s departure, Mohammad Hussain, a Pakistani employee at the American Embassy in Karachi asked the secretary’s British clerk about the holiday. The clerk described it as a possible slip. “Mistake meaningful,” however, because “the secretary knew the embassy would be closed (on) Oct. 17 (sic) although no American or Pakistani holiday was scheduled then to fall that day.

The story in Nadeem then points to another fact, as given in the declassified document. The American ambassador (in Karachi) offered condolences to Liaquat’s wife (Raana Liaquat Ali Khan) on the phone, some three and a half minutes before even the Governor General of Pakistan Khawaja Nazimuddin managed to offer his condolences. This was despite the fact that the governor general was the first to be informed (of the killing) by the Rawalpindi authorities. Indeed with no mobile connection, no live transmissions, even no TV, those were different days and the flow of information was much slower than today. The question that the newspaper article thus tried to raise was how did the American ambassador come to know of the assassination before the governor general of Pakistan found out?

The newspaper article, as summarized by the declassified US document, then discusses the possible reason for the disenchantment of the US and the UK governments with the Pakistan prime minister and his government. Liaquat was not ready to toe the US line, the newspaper pointed out and hence the US wanted him eliminated.
“While the UK was pressing Pakistan for support on the issue of Iran, the US demanded Pakistan use its influence in Tehran and persuade it to transfer control of its oil fields to the US (oil apparently has remained a major issue with the Americans ever since, especially while Mohammad Mosaddeq was in power in Tehran then).

According to the article, Liaquat Ali Khan declined to accede to the request. “The US then threatened to annul the secret pact on Kashmir (between Pakistan and the US). Liaquat replied that Pakistan has annexed half of Kashmir without American support and would be able to take the other half too.” Not only that, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan also demanded that the US vacate air bases in Pakistan.

“Liaquat’s demand was a bombshell for Washington. Americans who had been dreaming of conquering Soviet Russia from Pakistan air bases were flabbergasted,” the article emphasized. And hence the plot to kill Liaquat was hatched, says the article.
However, “the US wanted a Muslim assassin, so as to obviate international complications. The US could not find a traitor in Pakistan (apparently for the reason that the new country was then brimming with nationalistic pride and hope for future),” the article added.

The US then turned to Kabul. “Washington contacted the US Embassy in Kabul. They in turn got in touch with Pashtoonistan leaders, pointing to Liaquat as their only hurdle and assuring them that if some of them could kill Liaquat, the US would undertake the task of establishing Pashtoonistan by 1952.”

At this the “Pashtoon leaders induced Akbar to take the job and also made arrangements for him to be killed immediately after so as to conceal the conspiracy. The Pakistani currency recovered from the assassin’s body also reveal that others were also involved. Due to already strained relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan no currency exchange was then taking place between the two countries. Hence only the “American Embassy (in Kabul) could have supplied the Pakistani currency notes to the assassin,” the summary argued.

The article also mentioned that the cartridges recovered from the body of the assassinated Pakistani premier were US made. The type of bullet used to kill the Pakistani prime minister were in “use by high-ranking American officers”, and were “not usually available in the market”. The rest is for us to deduce.
The article then summarized that all these facts prove that the real culprit behind the killing was the US, which had committed similar acts in the Middle East as well.

There are many parallels between then and now. And all this could not be just a matter of chance. Oil, assassinations, dollars, Iran, air bases, all these sound familiar even today. Fifty years have passed, yet things may not have really changed.
http://archive.arabnews.com/?page=9&section=0&article=85526&d=18&m=7&y=2006

Friday, April 1, 2011

A new paradigm

By Khalid Aziz | From the Dawn Newspaper

I RECENTLY saw a TV programme on BBC World that examined the circumstances leading to the declaration of a `no-fly zone` over Libya.

Such a zone was declared after the adoption of a UN resolution that abridged Libyan sovereignty but supported the aspirations of the Libyans who were protesting and demanding greater freedoms, including an end to Muammar Qadhafi`s four-decade rule.

What was significant in the programme was the lack of direction in many European capitals and in the US preceding this decision. Although there was paralysis at the state level, within a few days the key European countries and the US agreed that action should be initiated under the UN charter.

It was not at all clear what changed the situation from a lack of unanimity to the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1973, permitting the establishment of a no-fly zone over Libya and warning the Libyan government to stop the use of force against Libyans. In the previous international system such an occurrence was unheard of. So what has changed?

It is now obvious that the international media has become very influential in guiding the policies of western nations, because its reporting creates a demand amongst voters to bring relevant changes. The recent protest movements in the Middle East — one of the most oppressive regions in the world — are clearly the result of two factors: globalisation of values like freedom, human rights and abhorrence of violence; and the availability and popularity of social networking websites.In other words, we are witnessing the birth of international values that are centred on humanism and not on belief-driven ideologies that use force as a weapon.

Secondly, it was surprising for many to see that religion and its votaries did not figure in this new configuration that is taking place in the Middle East, which is mostly Muslim. Will this transform the stereotypes of identities that caused conflict in the past? Or will the future belong to people who follow universal values of human rights while subscribing to local customs as part of their identity?

If it is the latter, then we are likely to see the last of persons like Osama bin Laden and his followers who have caused so much pain and misery everywhere. Life is about peace, love and brotherhood and not winning imaginary ideological or belief-driven battles for a `salubrious` hereafter.

If the media is the new mechanism that shifts voters` perceptions and forces politicians to act in international affairs then what is the message for Pakistan? Evidently, it has to act in such a way that its state policies are acceptable to the global village where humanity dwells and not to act solely for Pakistan`s narrow or selfish ends.

Secondly, it must be ensured that our policies enhance international security while at the same time improve the lives of our people and others around the world. This can only happen if we bring about basic changes in how we manage our internal and foreign policies. At present, the international media narrative portrays Pakistan as part of the problem concerning international security. The criticism against us fills many hours of media time and is dangerous for our long-term survival. So what should Pakistan do?

Winston Churchill provides an answer. He said that if a nation wants to be considered as part of the civilised world, its society must be based on the opinion of civilians. “It means that violence, the rule of warriors and despotic chiefs, the conditions of camps and warfare, of riot and tyranny, give place to parliaments where laws are made, and independent courts of justice in which over long periods those laws are maintained. That is civilisation — and in its soil grows continually freedom, comfort and culture.”

We can judge where we stand by comparing our situation today with what Churchill stated. Pakistan today painfully resembles a citadel of violence and abridged lives, a state that survives on the goodwill of others. Such an enterprise cannot be called civilised under the above definition.

Pakistan`s media is robust and can play a constructive role if there is a wish to do so. However, on issues of freedom and repression the media becomes faint-hearted and selective in its approach. Some recent examples of its reticence are its stance on the repressiveness under the blasphemy laws and the connected tragic deaths of governor Salman Taseer and federal minister Shahbaz Bhatti.

The media acts fearfully because the rightist retribution is instant. For it to remain healthy, it needs to be protected and groomed by the state to become a progressive transformative agent. Its power to do good and take Pakistan out of the grip of terrorists in Swat and Fata was evident when it transformed the mindset of Pakistanis by airing the video that showed the whipping of a girl in Swat by the Taliban in April 2009.

It changed the mindset of the people, which in turn transformed national policy and created a demand for immediate retributive action against the Swat militants — something that the political leadership and the security services were unable to achieve earlier.

This indicates that the Pakistani media can play a major constructive role as a strategic communicator for changing negative attitudes. However, to achieve beneficial results, a sound national strategy is a prerequisite.

It is apparent that in this new media-driven world, Pakistan`s security and future well-being depend on understanding the new emerging information paradigm and aligning security and information strategies accordingly. However, such a strategy cannot be based on denials.

The writer is chairman of the Regional Institute of Policy Research in Peshawar.