Daily Times Editorial Aug 13, 2013

The terrorist landscape Eid has come and gone. There were moments of joy on the occasion in the company of family, friends and acquaintances, visits to recreational sites (mercifully spared the malign attention of terrorists), picnics and merriment. However, this was the bright side of the country’s picture. The dark side was never far from the surface though, as events proved. This Eid, celebrated amid blood and fear, saw attempted terrorist attacks in Bara Kahu near Islamabad in which a suicide bomber was shot dead before he could explode his vest, but not before he had killed a security guard and injured a few prayer attendees at an imambargah. This foiled attack came in the aftermath of the bombing in Quetta Police Lines on the funeral of an officer killed that morning. While the country held its breath in trepidation at what might yet be in store, the security forces in select parts of the country were active over the holidays. Two attackers were killed in an assault on a Mastung, Balochistan, Frontier Corps (FC) check post. On the other hand, two FC men were injured in a blast on their convoy on the Quetta bypass. A landmine blast in Dera Murad Jamali killed one and injured three persons when their vehicle hit the landmine. A terrorist was gunned down in Matni, Peshawar. The security forces claimed having killed eight persons linked to the Machh area attacks in Bolan the other day in which FC personnel and bus passengers travelling home to Punjab were killed. Other than the fact that all this went on over the Eid holidays, it was business as usual on the terrorist front in the Islamic Republic. Since the PML-N government came to power two months or so ago, the intensity and frequency of terrorist attacks has incrementally increased. This despite the fact that the PML-N, like the PTI, fought the elections on a platform of initiating talks with the Taliban, an offer reciprocated by the TTP until the killing by a drone of their second-in-command Waliur Rehman. Subsequent attacks all the over the country have been justified by the TTP as revenge for Waliur Rehman's killing. On the other hand, the governments, whether at the Centre or in the provinces, have appeared frozen in the glare of headlights like frightened rabbits. The much-touted “comprehensive” (Chaudhry Nisar’s term) national counter-terrorism strategy continues to elude the light of day. The redoubtable Chaudhry Nisar says the government does not want to launch the strategy in a hurry. That it is certainly not guilty of. But his (and others’) confusion is underlined by the usual mantra he trotted out in Quetta about all our troubles stemming from our involvement in a war that was not ours and into which we were forcibly thrust. Imran Khan echoes him in reiterating that ‘withdrawal’ from the US-led war on terror would deny the terrorists the space to project jihad as revenge for drone attacks and other sundry things. In case Chaudhry Nisar and Imran Khan have not noticed, or forgotten, the US is withdrawing from Afghanistan and the region by the end of next year. We should be worrying about the aftermath of that withdrawal instead of sitting complacently in our comfort zone of ‘not our war’. The Taliban have brought that ‘not our war’ home to us, so the whole chicken and egg conundrum of which came first, terrorism or the drone attacks, seems academic and futile, certainly in terms of policy prescriptions. Ambiguity on the approach to terrorism does not stop our leaders from making statements of intent and will. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif reiterates his ‘determination’ to eliminate terrorism. Welcome. But now that ‘determination’ must find shape in the form of a policy, strategy, and implementation, all conspicuous so far by their absence. Vacuums are inherently subject to being filled. If the political forces seem paralysed so far in the face of the terrorist onslaught, the Supreme Court once again has stepped in with a suo motu on the recent violence in Balochistan. Having failed to achieve much in the case of the missing persons, let us hope the apex court has something more positive to contribute in this latest endeavour. Every drop that irrigates the killing fields of the terrorist landscape against them can only be welcomed. But we need more than drops of rain. We urgently need a national effort to tackle the terrorists and return this fertile land to its true self: a tolerant, progressive, modern, forward looking culture and society. Big challenge, so far inadequate response.

Daily Times Editorial Aug 9, 2013

A sickening crime A stolen motorcycle packed with 5-6 kgs of explosives and heavy ball bearings was exploded by remote control towards the end of a football match in Lyari, Karachi on Wednesday. Eleven people were killed, most of them teenagers, and over two dozen injured. The police are not sure who the target was, provincial minister Javed Nagori or ‘known characters’ of the People’s Amn (Peace) Committee (PAC). Bomb disposal experts revealed that the device was what is called a uni-directional one, meaning the ball bearings, etc, were flung in one direction, aiming at a specific target. To his good fortune, Mr Nagori had just left the venue when the bomb exploded. Despite their theories, the police remain clueless as to the identity of the perpetrators. The cast of usual suspects is headed by terrorists (the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi occupying pride of place since it is said the PAC had been helping the law enforcement agencies against the banned sectarian outfit), gang wars (criminal turf in Lyari’s drug and human trafficking trades is contested fiercely and violently), or, as the police is suggesting, rivals of the PAC. This last possibility may be strengthened by the fact that one activist of the PAC, Yasir Pathan, was amongst the dead. There is so far no claim of responsibility. Pakistan has become a daily tragedy. Almost every day, death and destruction rain down on citizens from unexpected quarters. Many die simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the case of the Lyari blast, the tragedy is compounded by the fact that most of the dead were young football-crazy boys of Lyari, seeking relief from the tedium of daily life in Karachi threatened with violence from all (and unexpected) directions. Lyari is well known as the nursery for many football players who have gone on to represent the country with distinction. For many of them, and for the aspirants who look up to and seek to emulate them, football offers an escape from the daily survival grind and the hope of a better future. How much more sickening is it therefore that the merchants of blood and mayhem chose these young people to kill, whether directly or as collateral damage for a strike at some specific target hardly matters in the final analysis. The bombers would have been well aware that their deadly cargo would take with it many of the young players and spectators enjoying the match. The temptation to hold one’s head, cry and fall into black despair is not the answer, compelling as the circumstances have become. It is disappointing that the PML-N government has not exactly lit a fire under itself to tackle the terrorism issue. The much-vaunted national counter-terrorism policy, reportedly being cogitated amongst government circles, has yet to see the light of day, even two months after the government took office. It was obvious to everyone but the purblind or the totally indifferent that the new government would not be able to avail of the traditional honeymoon period of 100 days for incoming governments. Pakistan’s crisis is far beyond such luxuries of more normal times. Any number of terrorist organizations, criminal and vested interest groups, political interests and others are vying for turf and influence over the increasing toll of the dead bodies of citizens the state is enjoined to protect. The problem of course is of long standing. Over four decades, the state has nurtured and unleashed extremist forces that have by now slipped off the leash of their erstwhile mentors in the military establishment and their intelligence arms. If proof were needed of the impact on what by now appears to be the crumbling writ and capacity of the state to meet the challenge, the Bannu and D I Khan jailbreaks provide salutary examples. It is almost as though each component of the state, civilian and military, political and bureaucratic, federal and provincial, is more interested in protecting its own turf exclusively. This is a recipe for disaster. The terrorists, elusive, dispersed, well organized and armed, are able to exploit the dysfunctionality of the state as a result of these divides and worm their way through the cracks in the edifice to ply their deadly trade. Is there anyone amongst the rulers who can see the writing on the wall and take the tough institutional, organizational and practical measures necessary to salvage the country from the slippery slope it is on?

Daily Times Editorial Aug 8, 2013

An ill-advised tactic Tuesday’s incident in the Machh area of Bolan, 80 kilometres from Quetta, in which two security personnel and 11 Punjabi civilians were killed in cold blood has unsettling ramifications. It is being reported that about 200 guerrillas first attacked and destroyed a PAF oil tanker in the area, then intercepted a Frontier Corps (FC) patrol, trussed up the five FC personnel, snatched their weapons and walkie-talkies and put up a check post on the road that started stopping buses plying on the route. Normally, according to the local administration, buses going from Quetta to other provinces along this route are accompanied by security forces but the attack on the tanker and FC “kept the security forces busy”. That still does not explain why, after the preliminary incidents, the authorities and the bus operators were not alerted to the risks ahead. Be that as it may, the singling out of Punjabi travellers on the basis of their ethnicity and then shooting them dead signals a new and frightening escalation of the hatreds in troubled Balochistan province. Although Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) spokesman Meerak Baloch telephoned media later to claim responsibility for the incident, he argued that the 13 people killed all belonged to the military or security forces and the others kidnapped were set free. Even if that argument is conceded, does it justify the murder in cold blood of people on the basis of their ethnicity? Two or three years ago, there was a rash of attacks on Punjabi ordinary citizens all over Balochistan, which even the well wishers of the Baloch people found abhorrent and criticized. The practice seemed to have mercifully died out, but its ‘revival’ now poses fraught ethical, moral, political and philosophic questions. The narrower Baloch nationalism that inspires the insurgents in the current phase of their struggle for their rights and against genuine grievances lumps the whole of Punjab as responsible for its oppression. But the fact is that ordinary Punjabi citizens have nothing to do with the policy of suppression in Balochistan. The head to be crowned for that policy, with its ‘kill and dump’ aspect being the most extreme and inhuman face, belongs exclusively to the military establishment and its ‘implementing’ tool, the FC. Hatred against the oppressors is understandable, but to conflate the blame to include uninvolved citizens from Punjab who are in the province in search of livelihood is not just, efficacious, or wise. The loss of innocent lives anywhere and in any circumstances is tragic. How much satisfaction flows from the mourning of the families of these victims in Punjab on this occasion of Eid for those thousands of Baloch families who have lost, and continue to lose, their near and dear ones every day for years is debatable. Such are the wages, though, of the policies pursued by the military establishment in Balochistan. These policies are beyond the purview and out of the control of the province’s civilian rulers, including the recently elected government in Quetta. Until and unless the military establishment surrenders, or is forced to surrender running things in Balochistan in parallel manner into the hands of the civilian elected government, such tragedies cannot be ruled out. It may be instructive to compare the struggle in Balochistan in the 1970s to the current one. Then, not a single settler was harmed. Security forces personnel captured by the guerrillas were looked after, re-educated as to the causes why the Baloch were fighting for their rights, and freed. Even just causes must be fought for with just means. The end has never justified any and all means, and arguably the wrong means end up eroding the righteousness of the most just of causes. Unfortunately, because of the monopoly of the military establishment over Balochistan’s affairs, scepticism after the elections that the new civilian dispensation would be able to bring about a rapprochement will now only be reinforced. The military establishment’s present course runs the risk of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy by stoking separatist sentiment to the point of hardened conviction, thereby shrinking the space for a political solution and threatening a debacle for the country in the future. Do the governments in Islamabad and Quetta have the will and courage to challenge this disastrous course and turn things around in Balochistan for the sake of the country? A healthy dose of scepticism notwithstanding, unless the politicians in Islamabad and Quetta take things in their own hands, the province and the country could be entering a dark and forbidding cul de sac.

Daily Times editorial Aug 6, 2013

Imran Khan on the warpath Fresh from his bruising encounter with the Supreme Court, Imran Khan in a press conference on Sunday tilted against two new targets. First, he questioned the reasons for the one division of the army stationed in D I Khan not being deployed to prevent the jailbreak the other day, or in pursuit of the attackers. Imran Khan was in good company when he said it was beyond comprehension why the law enforcement agencies did not counter the terrorists. Everyone wants an answer to this conundrum. Logically the only two reasons for this debacle that suggest themselves are 1) either the jail staff was complicit; 2) they were not complicit but got cold feet and ran when the heavily armed terrorists arrived at the gates of the prison. Neither of these two propositions is contradicted by the fact that the prior intelligence warning of an imminent attack was discussed, but all to no avail when the calamity actually struck. The performance of the jail staff is one mystery, the other, the lack of help from the army, goes to the heart of the confusion surrounding our counter-terrorism operations. Under peacetime rules of engagement, the army cannot simply decide to intervene in a situation like that of the D I Khan jailbreak. The local administration and jail authorities should have called upon the army authorities if they feared they would not be able to stave off a determined attack, or informed the military of what was happening inside once the terrorists arrived (and stayed to enjoy iftar delicacies). The lack of communication underlines the lack of coordination for antiterrorist operations between the civilian and military authorities. This lack of coordination is replicated in the lack of coordination between the Centre and the provinces. Into this ‘Swiss cheese’ of our counter-terrorism edifice, the terrorist ‘mice’ can burrow through the holes with the greatest of ease. Once again, without the civilian and military, federal and provincial authorities being together under one counter-terrorist umbrella, it will remain an ‘unequal’ contest. Imran Khan’s other target was the redoubtable Maulana Fazlur Rehman. Imran Khan has threatened to take the Maulana to court over his allegation that Imran Khan is a Jewish agent. Now this kind of slander has been around ever since Imran Khan married his now divorced wife Jemima Khan. Although she is a Christian, her family is said to have Jewish ancestry. Does that suffice to label Imran Khan a ‘Jewish agent’? Apparently, in the ‘low’ narrative of the Maulana, yes. Imran Khan questioned the Maulana who after all was an agent when WikiLeaks had revealed the Maulana's efforts to persuade the US ambassador to support Maulana for prime minister. True or not, we would advise Imran Khan not to stoop to Maulana’s level of vituperation, but indeed take him to court (and if possible to the cleaners) if he cannot substantiate his wild allegation.

Daily Times Editorial Aug 5, 2013

Cry havoc once again From north to south, almost the entire country has been inundated by the heavy monsoon rains. The rivers are rising, nullahs (drainage channels) are overflowing, many cities are flooded. Dozens of people have been killed or injured, and the count is mounting. In many areas, including some cities, people have been forced to abandon their homes and seek shelter wherever they can. The ravages of nature, and the monsoon is a regular visitor of such misery on people and places, cannot be prevented. However, preparation for the annual deluge, including ensuring drainage on a national level and in the cities is a responsibility of government. How much of such preparation is in evidence is shown by the countrywide reports of drainage channels blocked by refuse and other impediments, banks unprotected and lacking pre-emptive reinforcement against the force of rushing waters, cities turning rapidly into ‘waterworlds’ and nary a sign of any meaningful and effective relief for the victims. This is not an unfamiliar scenario. It has become a recurring tragedy in recent years. No lessons appear to have been learnt even from the ravages of the floods in two consecutive years, 2010 and 2011, whose affectees are still to be properly and comprehensively rehabilitated to date. To their ranks we must now expect the addition of many more citizens in misery. What, you may ask, have the authorities been doing? At the provincial level first, none of the governments of the worst affected provinces, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan appear to have a clue what to do. Local administrations in the affected areas have struggled to cope, but clearly lack the resources and expertise to deal with an ongoing, and likely to become worse, situation. In Punjab, villages and cities have also ‘drowned’, and the authorities have yet to gear up to match the exigencies of an emerging emergency. At the federal level, yesterday Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took notice of the impending crisis and ordered three federal ministers to tour the affected areas and report. In all this belated flurry, where, one may ask, are the National and Provincial Disaster Management Authorities? Clearly, because of their incompetence, lack of planning or preparation, in the shadow world of ‘disasters’ themselves. Hardly a squeak has been heard out of them, and even fewer steps on the ground are in evidence. What price such white elephants? The traditional recourse to the army to provide the manpower and resources for relief has yet to be mobilized, apart from some small scale deployment in select areas at the request of the local authorities. Since the Meteorological Office is predicting more rains, the crisis is bound to take on the character of a national emergency. Some train traffic has been disrupted in the Jacobabad-Kachhi salient. If the predicted rains arrive, it could cause major disruptions to both rail and road traffic throughout the country. The authorities must wake up and work on the war footing required to meet the challenge. Over the years, there has been much talk of a national drainage programme. The efficacy of whatever has been done in this regard is now on display (and repeated nauseatingly every year). The Indus Basin at the heart of the country’s geography boasts some of the biggest rivers and most extensive canal network in the world. The natural slope of the land from north to south offers immense possibilities of mitigating, if not eliminating, the yearly damage from the monsoons and overflowing water sources. In the cities, the time-honoured recourse to pumping water out from low lying urban areas is now beset with the constraint imposed by the energy crisis. This is a good example of how a crisis in one field can impact on, and add to, crises in other areas. Governments at the Centre and in the provinces, with help from the military, have to gear up quickly to provide relief and succour to the present and potential victims of this annual affliction. But beyond that, the national and urban drainage issues have to be taken up seriously to improve the infrastructure, mitigate the sufferings to the extent possible, and ensure the victims do not once again disappear through the cracks in the edifice of our wholly inadequate disaster management.

Daily Times Editorial Aug 4, 2013

Terminological inexactitude Imran Khan’s two explanations (with a break in between for consultations) in the Supreme Court (SC) regarding the alleged contempt by him of the judiciary, failed to cut much ice with the three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry when the PTI leader appeared before it. In the first explanation by his counsel Hamid Khan, it was submitted that Imran Khan had not committed contempt of court nor could even think of doing so since he held the judiciary in high esteem. It went on to elaborate the PTI leader and his party’s struggle in the movement for the restoration of the judiciary. His remarks, considered contemptuous by the SC, were placed in the context of the PTI leader’s pleas to the SC to adjudicate his party’s complaints regarding rigging in the elections of May 11 in at least four National Assembly constituencies. In other words, the counsel argued that it was the high expectations from the SC that had disappointed Imran Khan to an extent that he lapsed into the ‘immoderate’ language that has offended the court. The bench however, advised the counsel to retire and submit a more ‘considered’ statement. This second explanation argued that Imran Khan’s statements were made in good faith and against the lower judiciary returning officers in the election. However, the court would have none of it and ordered the counsel to file a comprehensive written reply on August 28. Both before his appearance before the SC and after, Imran Khan appeared unrepentant and unapologetic, arguing he had said nothing wrong or contemptuous and therefore did not see the need to apologise to the court. The bone of contention appeared to be ‘terminological inexactitude' over the meaning (and translation in parts of the media) of the word used by Imran Khan regarding the conduct of the elections and the ‘judiciary’s’ role during and after the polls. The offending word is ‘sharamnaak’, which some of the media have translated as ‘shameless’ and most as ‘shameful’. ‘Shameless’ is a much stronger word and arguably falls into the category of contempt. However, ‘shameful’ could refer to the conduct of their duties by the judiciary rather than the person of judges or the institution per se. While arguably ‘shameful’ may or may not be contemptuous, it is certainly derogatory. Nevertheless, even this subtle distinction did not help Imran Khan’s cause before the bench. Imran Khan has been sounding off since the elections on the following lines: the election saw the worst (?) rigging in any election in Pakistan’s history, and the lack of redress by the Election Commission of Pakistan or the SC was ‘shameful’. The SC bench patiently explained to the alleged contemnor that such electoral rigging complaints, under the law and judicial procedure, were referred in the case of 31 pleas by the PTI members to the election tribunals as the proper forum for dealing with such complaints. Imran Khan, on the other hand, is impatient with that route since he believes the election tribunals take far too long to deliver any verdict and arguably by the time they do, the next elections may well be round the corner. Hence his insistence that the SC, which otherwise has been known in recent years to utilise its suo motu powers liberally, should intervene to cut short the long winded process. In other words, Imran Khan, in the view of the court, demands special treatment. While it is understandable that Imran Khan and his party were frustrated by their inability to sweep the polls as they had convinced themselves before the voting they were poised to do (the ‘tsunami’ effect), it is not wise to vent that frustration at the judiciary or the undeniably slow processes that characterise our electoral and justice systems. In Imran Khan’s defence, the best that can be said is that despite being in politics for 19 years, he has yet to learn the difference between captaining a cricket team and participating in democratic politics. It has been apparent on a number of occasions that when Imran Khan’s wishes are not complied with, a streak of impatience, even arrogance, comes out on display. There are hard lessons to be learnt about the need for patience and fortitude in politics, even in the face of adversity, which our former cricket hero and admirable philanthropist would be wise to imbibe even at this stage. The contempt case in question has inadvertently framed a new reality: both the judiciary (in this case in the shape of the bench) and Imran Khan seem ‘disillusioned’ with each other. This may be a case of unrealistic expectations on both sides, but it would perhaps serve little purpose to drag the matter on indefinitely when the country is confronted with so many more serious problems. It is not for us to advise the court on a sub judice matter how to proceed. However, it may not be out of place to ask for restraint and an amicable solution, either through an apology (with Imran Khan swallowing his pride in the interests of the country’s delicately poised juncture in a gesture of statesmanship) or a milder treatment by the court (a rebuke perhaps?) to avoid convicting Imran Khan and sending him to jail, which would have the collateral effect of debarring him from politics for at least five years. The election commission and its tribunals too should revisit and speed up the matter of irregularity complaints in the general elections. This would help the election commission to restore some of its battered prestige after the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim soon after the presidential election debacle. The respect and dignity of the judiciary as an institution must be upheld by all and sundry if Pakistan is to institutionalize after long years of struggle a democratic dispensation with a clear separation of powers and defined (as far as possible) areas of purview. We can only hope that wisdom will prevail, no ego should dictate matters, and that the issue can be settled without too much damage.

Daily Times editorial Aug 3, 2013

A fresh beginning? US Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit has yielded some hope of better Pak-US relations while leaving some questions unanswered or only dealt with ‘diplomatically’. Mr Kerry is the senior most official to visit Pakistan after the new US administration and the new elected government in Pakistan took office. Naturally, given the turmoil-filled state of relations over the last two years, the two sides had a full agenda for discussion and some vexed issues to sort out. Mr Kerry brings a great deal of goodwill for him personally as a friend of Pakistan and a man steeped in international affairs during a long career in the Senate. He is also remembered as the mover and shaker of the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Act to come to Pakistan’s aid. Given all these credentials, his task was nevertheless never going to be easy, given the history (especially recently) of mutual mistrust and suspicion between the two countries, rooted in ‘irritants’ such as cross-border militancy, the Raymond Davis affair, Salala check post tragedy, Osama bin Laden raid, etc. Nevertheless, what seemed to have transpired during Mr Kerry’s meetings with the foreign office, prime minister and COAS (including the ISI chief) was a clearer expression of the intent to forge a ‘full partnership’ (not just a transactional relationship in the context of one issue or even Afghanistan), and restart the Strategic Dialogue stalled since October 2010. No one is pretending the going will be anything but tough. Pakistan has of late become more vocal in opposition to US drone strikes on its territory, a complaint Mr Kerry met by reminding his hosts that it was al Qaeda and others of their ilk who were violating Pakistani sovereignty by using Pakistani soil for their terrorist agendas. Kerry also linked the stoppage of drone attacks (which he tantalisingly promised may well be “very soon”) with the eradication of safe havens on Pakistani soil for the terrorists that were attacking the US and the world and whose offshoots were crippling Pakistan too with their unrelenting terrorist actions. In fact, in the joint press conference after the parleys, the prime minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz revealed the change in thinking of the ruling party after taking office less than two months ago and being subjected to a spate of attacks since. Aziz said dialogue would no longer be the only option for dealing with the terrorists (as the PML-N iterated during its election campaign) but that talks would go hand in hand with military action. It may even be argued that without the latter, no talks have any chance of even starting, let alone being successful. The two sides agreed to promote the revival of negotiations with the Afghan Taliban in Doha in order to ensure an orderly withdrawal of the US/NATO forces next year and leave behind a peaceful Afghanistan, so critical for that country itself as well as for Pakistan and indeed the whole region and the world at large. Kerry graciously extended an invitation to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to visit Washington for talks with President Obama. This visit will probably be tied up with the prime minister’s trip to New York for the fall UN session. While the prime minister expressed his desire for Pakistan to be given greater access to the US market to boost its exports to that country to $ 11 billion, along with cooperation in the fields of energy (ongoing and committed to by Washington), the economy and the social sector, President Asif Ali Zardari has come out with the idea of the US leading an international effort to frame a 'Marshall Plan’ for the recovery, rehabilitation, consolidation and development of Pakistan’s state and society. The idea and its name appear visionary, although it is not certain that the same will exists amongst the potential donors for such a Plan as was in evidence regarding the reconstruction of Europe after WWII. Nevertheless, there is little doubt that the proposal has hit the nail on the head if Pakistan and the region are to overcome the legacy of terrorism, energy deficits and a stuttering eco the path of a brighter, more prosperous future.