Daily Times Editorial March 31, 2014

Education emergency Former British prime minister Gordon Brown since leaving office has taken up education as a mission. Currently the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Education, Mr Brown is well known for having gone out of his way to support Malala Yousafzai as part of his efforts for girls’ education worldwide. In a press conference in Islamabad on Saturday, Gordon Brown spelt out the world community’s plan to support education in Pakistan through finance of $ 1 billion over the next 3-4 years. A number of international organizations and countries have pledged the money, including the Global Partnership for Education ($ 100 million), USAID ($ 140 million), European community ($ 100 million), besides support from Saudi Arabia (a pleasant change from funding madrassas), the UAE, UN and other countries. Brown also wants Pakistan to abolish child marriages (keep in mind the recent Council of Islamic Ideology controversy), child labour (a necessary prerequisite for universal school enrolment) and gender discrimination. He reflected the Pakistan government’s desire to double education expenditure to four percent of GDP to achieve the goal of universal education. He revealed that there are seven million children out of schools and 55 million people over the age of 10 who are illiterate in Pakistan. The promised $ 1 billion will be used to build schools, purchase equipment and train teachers. Brown said he was pleasantly surprised to see the change in Pakistan in the last two years, with people now recognizing that the future of the Pakistani economy depends on education. It has of course been an increasingly accepted view the world over that the future requires a knowledge-based society. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s revelation of his plan to launch a countrywide literacy movement to ensure universal enrolment of children in schools through a package of incentives coincided with Gordon Brown’s announcements. The prime minister said at an international conference in Islamabad titled ‘Unfinished Agenda in Education: the Way Forward’ that the government’s effort was to achieve the targets set by the Education for All and Millennium Development Goals within three years. The focus would be on science, technology, modern skills, prioritization of female education, participation of women in the decision-making process and the protection of women’s respect and dignity. Declaring the situation had become a national emergency, Nawaz Sharif argued for reaping the demographic dividend of over 50 percent of our people being below 25 years of age through proper education and training, otherwise this dividend could convert into a burden. The prime minister also highlighted the private sector’s contribution to education, pointing to the fact that 4.8 million (34 percent) of the 14.4 million primary stage enrolments are in the private sector, whose share is much higher at the lower, middle and secondary levels. There is no disputing the fact that Pakistan, with a youth bulge, is far behind many developing countries in education, literacy and a modern, enlightened society. The prime minister’s formulation that we face an education emergency can only be endorsed, with emphasis on working on a war footing, especially with Gordon Brown’s good news about finance being available for a crash education and literacy programme. Scarce resources, with defence, national security and debt taking the lion’s share, have made increasing the education budgets an uphill task. It goes without saying that the benefits of concentration on education on an emergency basis are diverse, multi-layered, and probably the best investment in a different, better future than our floundering present. Not only will the economy in a globalised world require a pool of educated human resource, investment in education and literacy with their collateral goal of enlightenment, is the exact antithesis of terrorism, extremism and all their attendant ills that afflict state and society currently. Whatever the outcome of the government’s present course of talking to the Taliban in the immediate or distant future, the underlying problem of crafting a national narrative that can counter the backward looking Taliban outlook requires the foundation of an educated, literate society. As part of the effort to promote these goals as soon as possible, the education emergency programme should consider double shifts in schools, providing milk and healthy food to school going children, and craft a parallel adult literacy drive to push Pakistan into the 21st century.

Daily Times Editorial March 31, 2014

Education emergency Former British prime minister Gordon Brown since leaving office has taken up education as a mission. Currently the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Education, Mr Brown is well known for having gone out of his way to support Malala Yousafzai as part of his efforts for girls’ education worldwide. In a press conference in Islamabad on Saturday, Gordon Brown spelt out the world community’s plan to support education in Pakistan through finance of $ 1 billion over the next 3-4 years. A number of international organizations and countries have pledged the money, including the Global Partnership for Education ($ 100 million), USAID ($ 140 million), European community ($ 100 million), besides support from Saudi Arabia (a pleasant change from funding madrassas), the UAE, UN and other countries. Brown also wants Pakistan to abolish child marriages (keep in mind the recent Council of Islamic Ideology controversy), child labour (a necessary prerequisite for universal school enrolment) and gender discrimination. He reflected the Pakistan government’s desire to double education expenditure to four percent of GDP to achieve the goal of universal education. He revealed that there are seven million children out of schools and 55 million people over the age of 10 who are illiterate in Pakistan. The promised $ 1 billion will be used to build schools, purchase equipment and train teachers. Brown said he was pleasantly surprised to see the change in Pakistan in the last two years, with people now recognizing that the future of the Pakistani economy depends on education. It has of course been an increasingly accepted view the world over that the future requires a knowledge-based society. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s revelation of his plan to launch a countrywide literacy movement to ensure universal enrolment of children in schools through a package of incentives coincided with Gordon Brown’s announcements. The prime minister said at an international conference in Islamabad titled ‘Unfinished Agenda in Education: the Way Forward’ that the government’s effort was to achieve the targets set by the Education for All and Millennium Development Goals within three years. The focus would be on science, technology, modern skills, prioritization of female education, participation of women in the decision-making process and the protection of women’s respect and dignity. Declaring the situation had become a national emergency, Nawaz Sharif argued for reaping the demographic dividend of over 50 percent of our people being below 25 years of age through proper education and training, otherwise this dividend could convert into a burden. The prime minister also highlighted the private sector’s contribution to education, pointing to the fact that 4.8 million (34 percent) of the 14.4 million primary stage enrolments are in the private sector, whose share is much higher at the lower, middle and secondary levels. There is no disputing the fact that Pakistan, with a youth bulge, is far behind many developing countries in education, literacy and a modern, enlightened society. The prime minister’s formulation that we face an education emergency can only be endorsed, with emphasis on working on a war footing, especially with Gordon Brown’s good news about finance being available for a crash education and literacy programme. Scarce resources, with defence, national security and debt taking the lion’s share, have made increasing the education budgets an uphill task. It goes without saying that the benefits of concentration on education on an emergency basis are diverse, multi-layered, and probably the best investment in a different, better future than our floundering present. Not only will the economy in a globalised world require a pool of educated human resource, investment in education and literacy with their collateral goal of enlightenment, is the exact antithesis of terrorism, extremism and all their attendant ills that afflict state and society currently. Whatever the outcome of the government’s present course of talking to the Taliban in the immediate or distant future, the underlying problem of crafting a national narrative that can counter the backward looking Taliban outlook requires the foundation of an educated, literate society. As part of the effort to promote these goals as soon as possible, the education emergency programme should consider double shifts in schools, providing milk and healthy food to school going children, and craft a parallel adult literacy drive to push Pakistan into the 21st century.

Daily Times Editorial March 31, 2014

Education emergency Former British prime minister Gordon Brown since leaving office has taken up education as a mission. Currently the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Education, Mr Brown is well known for having gone out of his way to support Malala Yousafzai as part of his efforts for girls’ education worldwide. In a press conference in Islamabad on Saturday, Gordon Brown spelt out the world community’s plan to support education in Pakistan through finance of $ 1 billion over the next 3-4 years. A number of international organizations and countries have pledged the money, including the Global Partnership for Education ($ 100 million), USAID ($ 140 million), European community ($ 100 million), besides support from Saudi Arabia (a pleasant change from funding madrassas), the UAE, UN and other countries. Brown also wants Pakistan to abolish child marriages (keep in mind the recent Council of Islamic Ideology controversy), child labour (a necessary prerequisite for universal school enrolment) and gender discrimination. He reflected the Pakistan government’s desire to double education expenditure to four percent of GDP to achieve the goal of universal education. He revealed that there are seven million children out of schools and 55 million people over the age of 10 who are illiterate in Pakistan. The promised $ 1 billion will be used to build schools, purchase equipment and train teachers. Brown said he was pleasantly surprised to see the change in Pakistan in the last two years, with people now recognizing that the future of the Pakistani economy depends on education. It has of course been an increasingly accepted view the world over that the future requires a knowledge-based society. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s revelation of his plan to launch a countrywide literacy movement to ensure universal enrolment of children in schools through a package of incentives coincided with Gordon Brown’s announcements. The prime minister said at an international conference in Islamabad titled ‘Unfinished Agenda in Education: the Way Forward’ that the government’s effort was to achieve the targets set by the Education for All and Millennium Development Goals within three years. The focus would be on science, technology, modern skills, prioritization of female education, participation of women in the decision-making process and the protection of women’s respect and dignity. Declaring the situation had become a national emergency, Nawaz Sharif argued for reaping the demographic dividend of over 50 percent of our people being below 25 years of age through proper education and training, otherwise this dividend could convert into a burden. The prime minister also highlighted the private sector’s contribution to education, pointing to the fact that 4.8 million (34 percent) of the 14.4 million primary stage enrolments are in the private sector, whose share is much higher at the lower, middle and secondary levels. There is no disputing the fact that Pakistan, with a youth bulge, is far behind many developing countries in education, literacy and a modern, enlightened society. The prime minister’s formulation that we face an education emergency can only be endorsed, with emphasis on working on a war footing, especially with Gordon Brown’s good news about finance being available for a crash education and literacy programme. Scarce resources, with defence, national security and debt taking the lion’s share, have made increasing the education budgets an uphill task. It goes without saying that the benefits of concentration on education on an emergency basis are diverse, multi-layered, and probably the best investment in a different, better future than our floundering present. Not only will the economy in a globalised world require a pool of educated human resource, investment in education and literacy with their collateral goal of enlightenment, is the exact antithesis of terrorism, extremism and all their attendant ills that afflict state and society currently. Whatever the outcome of the government’s present course of talking to the Taliban in the immediate or distant future, the underlying problem of crafting a national narrative that can counter the backward looking Taliban outlook requires the foundation of an educated, literate society. As part of the effort to promote these goals as soon as possible, the education emergency programme should consider double shifts in schools, providing milk and healthy food to school going children, and craft a parallel adult literacy drive to push Pakistan into the 21st century.

Daily Times Editorial March 31, 2014

Education emergency Former British prime minister Gordon Brown since leaving office has taken up education as a mission. Currently the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Education, Mr Brown is well known for having gone out of his way to support Malala Yousafzai as part of his efforts for girls’ education worldwide. In a press conference in Islamabad on Saturday, Gordon Brown spelt out the world community’s plan to support education in Pakistan through finance of $ 1 billion over the next 3-4 years. A number of international organizations and countries have pledged the money, including the Global Partnership for Education ($ 100 million), USAID ($ 140 million), European community ($ 100 million), besides support from Saudi Arabia (a pleasant change from funding madrassas), the UAE, UN and other countries. Brown also wants Pakistan to abolish child marriages (keep in mind the recent Council of Islamic Ideology controversy), child labour (a necessary prerequisite for universal school enrolment) and gender discrimination. He reflected the Pakistan government’s desire to double education expenditure to four percent of GDP to achieve the goal of universal education. He revealed that there are seven million children out of schools and 55 million people over the age of 10 who are illiterate in Pakistan. The promised $ 1 billion will be used to build schools, purchase equipment and train teachers. Brown said he was pleasantly surprised to see the change in Pakistan in the last two years, with people now recognizing that the future of the Pakistani economy depends on education. It has of course been an increasingly accepted view the world over that the future requires a knowledge-based society. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s revelation of his plan to launch a countrywide literacy movement to ensure universal enrolment of children in schools through a package of incentives coincided with Gordon Brown’s announcements. The prime minister said at an international conference in Islamabad titled ‘Unfinished Agenda in Education: the Way Forward’ that the government’s effort was to achieve the targets set by the Education for All and Millennium Development Goals within three years. The focus would be on science, technology, modern skills, prioritization of female education, participation of women in the decision-making process and the protection of women’s respect and dignity. Declaring the situation had become a national emergency, Nawaz Sharif argued for reaping the demographic dividend of over 50 percent of our people being below 25 years of age through proper education and training, otherwise this dividend could convert into a burden. The prime minister also highlighted the private sector’s contribution to education, pointing to the fact that 4.8 million (34 percent) of the 14.4 million primary stage enrolments are in the private sector, whose share is much higher at the lower, middle and secondary levels. There is no disputing the fact that Pakistan, with a youth bulge, is far behind many developing countries in education, literacy and a modern, enlightened society. The prime minister’s formulation that we face an education emergency can only be endorsed, with emphasis on working on a war footing, especially with Gordon Brown’s good news about finance being available for a crash education and literacy programme. Scarce resources, with defence, national security and debt taking the lion’s share, have made increasing the education budgets an uphill task. It goes without saying that the benefits of concentration on education on an emergency basis are diverse, multi-layered, and probably the best investment in a different, better future than our floundering present. Not only will the economy in a globalised world require a pool of educated human resource, investment in education and literacy with their collateral goal of enlightenment, is the exact antithesis of terrorism, extremism and all their attendant ills that afflict state and society currently. Whatever the outcome of the government’s present course of talking to the Taliban in the immediate or distant future, the underlying problem of crafting a national narrative that can counter the backward looking Taliban outlook requires the foundation of an educated, literate society. As part of the effort to promote these goals as soon as possible, the education emergency programme should consider double shifts in schools, providing milk and healthy food to school going children, and craft a parallel adult literacy drive to push Pakistan into the 21st century.

Daily Times Editorial March 31, 2014

Education emergency Former British prime minister Gordon Brown since leaving office has taken up education as a mission. Currently the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Education, Mr Brown is well known for having gone out of his way to support Malala Yousafzai as part of his efforts for girls’ education worldwide. In a press conference in Islamabad on Saturday, Gordon Brown spelt out the world community’s plan to support education in Pakistan through finance of $ 1 billion over the next 3-4 years. A number of international organizations and countries have pledged the money, including the Global Partnership for Education ($ 100 million), USAID ($ 140 million), European community ($ 100 million), besides support from Saudi Arabia (a pleasant change from funding madrassas), the UAE, UN and other countries. Brown also wants Pakistan to abolish child marriages (keep in mind the recent Council of Islamic Ideology controversy), child labour (a necessary prerequisite for universal school enrolment) and gender discrimination. He reflected the Pakistan government’s desire to double education expenditure to four percent of GDP to achieve the goal of universal education. He revealed that there are seven million children out of schools and 55 million people over the age of 10 who are illiterate in Pakistan. The promised $ 1 billion will be used to build schools, purchase equipment and train teachers. Brown said he was pleasantly surprised to see the change in Pakistan in the last two years, with people now recognizing that the future of the Pakistani economy depends on education. It has of course been an increasingly accepted view the world over that the future requires a knowledge-based society. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s revelation of his plan to launch a countrywide literacy movement to ensure universal enrolment of children in schools through a package of incentives coincided with Gordon Brown’s announcements. The prime minister said at an international conference in Islamabad titled ‘Unfinished Agenda in Education: the Way Forward’ that the government’s effort was to achieve the targets set by the Education for All and Millennium Development Goals within three years. The focus would be on science, technology, modern skills, prioritization of female education, participation of women in the decision-making process and the protection of women’s respect and dignity. Declaring the situation had become a national emergency, Nawaz Sharif argued for reaping the demographic dividend of over 50 percent of our people being below 25 years of age through proper education and training, otherwise this dividend could convert into a burden. The prime minister also highlighted the private sector’s contribution to education, pointing to the fact that 4.8 million (34 percent) of the 14.4 million primary stage enrolments are in the private sector, whose share is much higher at the lower, middle and secondary levels. There is no disputing the fact that Pakistan, with a youth bulge, is far behind many developing countries in education, literacy and a modern, enlightened society. The prime minister’s formulation that we face an education emergency can only be endorsed, with emphasis on working on a war footing, especially with Gordon Brown’s good news about finance being available for a crash education and literacy programme. Scarce resources, with defence, national security and debt taking the lion’s share, have made increasing the education budgets an uphill task. It goes without saying that the benefits of concentration on education on an emergency basis are diverse, multi-layered, and probably the best investment in a different, better future than our floundering present. Not only will the economy in a globalised world require a pool of educated human resource, investment in education and literacy with their collateral goal of enlightenment, is the exact antithesis of terrorism, extremism and all their attendant ills that afflict state and society currently. Whatever the outcome of the government’s present course of talking to the Taliban in the immediate or distant future, the underlying problem of crafting a national narrative that can counter the backward looking Taliban outlook requires the foundation of an educated, literate society. As part of the effort to promote these goals as soon as possible, the education emergency programme should consider double shifts in schools, providing milk and healthy food to school going children, and craft a parallel adult literacy drive to push Pakistan into the 21st century.

Daily Times Editorial March 31, 2014

Education emergency Former British prime minister Gordon Brown since leaving office has taken up education as a mission. Currently the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Education, Mr Brown is well known for having gone out of his way to support Malala Yousafzai as part of his efforts for girls’ education worldwide. In a press conference in Islamabad on Saturday, Gordon Brown spelt out the world community’s plan to support education in Pakistan through finance of $ 1 billion over the next 3-4 years. A number of international organizations and countries have pledged the money, including the Global Partnership for Education ($ 100 million), USAID ($ 140 million), European community ($ 100 million), besides support from Saudi Arabia (a pleasant change from funding madrassas), the UAE, UN and other countries. Brown also wants Pakistan to abolish child marriages (keep in mind the recent Council of Islamic Ideology controversy), child labour (a necessary prerequisite for universal school enrolment) and gender discrimination. He reflected the Pakistan government’s desire to double education expenditure to four percent of GDP to achieve the goal of universal education. He revealed that there are seven million children out of schools and 55 million people over the age of 10 who are illiterate in Pakistan. The promised $ 1 billion will be used to build schools, purchase equipment and train teachers. Brown said he was pleasantly surprised to see the change in Pakistan in the last two years, with people now recognizing that the future of the Pakistani economy depends on education. It has of course been an increasingly accepted view the world over that the future requires a knowledge-based society. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s revelation of his plan to launch a countrywide literacy movement to ensure universal enrolment of children in schools through a package of incentives coincided with Gordon Brown’s announcements. The prime minister said at an international conference in Islamabad titled ‘Unfinished Agenda in Education: the Way Forward’ that the government’s effort was to achieve the targets set by the Education for All and Millennium Development Goals within three years. The focus would be on science, technology, modern skills, prioritization of female education, participation of women in the decision-making process and the protection of women’s respect and dignity. Declaring the situation had become a national emergency, Nawaz Sharif argued for reaping the demographic dividend of over 50 percent of our people being below 25 years of age through proper education and training, otherwise this dividend could convert into a burden. The prime minister also highlighted the private sector’s contribution to education, pointing to the fact that 4.8 million (34 percent) of the 14.4 million primary stage enrolments are in the private sector, whose share is much higher at the lower, middle and secondary levels. There is no disputing the fact that Pakistan, with a youth bulge, is far behind many developing countries in education, literacy and a modern, enlightened society. The prime minister’s formulation that we face an education emergency can only be endorsed, with emphasis on working on a war footing, especially with Gordon Brown’s good news about finance being available for a crash education and literacy programme. Scarce resources, with defence, national security and debt taking the lion’s share, have made increasing the education budgets an uphill task. It goes without saying that the benefits of concentration on education on an emergency basis are diverse, multi-layered, and probably the best investment in a different, better future than our floundering present. Not only will the economy in a globalised world require a pool of educated human resource, investment in education and literacy with their collateral goal of enlightenment, is the exact antithesis of terrorism, extremism and all their attendant ills that afflict state and society currently. Whatever the outcome of the government’s present course of talking to the Taliban in the immediate or distant future, the underlying problem of crafting a national narrative that can counter the backward looking Taliban outlook requires the foundation of an educated, literate society. As part of the effort to promote these goals as soon as possible, the education emergency programme should consider double shifts in schools, providing milk and healthy food to school going children, and craft a parallel adult literacy drive to push Pakistan into the 21st century.

Daily Times Editorial March 31, 2014

Education emergency Former British prime minister Gordon Brown since leaving office has taken up education as a mission. Currently the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Education, Mr Brown is well known for having gone out of his way to support Malala Yousafzai as part of his efforts for girls’ education worldwide. In a press conference in Islamabad on Saturday, Gordon Brown spelt out the world community’s plan to support education in Pakistan through finance of $ 1 billion over the next 3-4 years. A number of international organizations and countries have pledged the money, including the Global Partnership for Education ($ 100 million), USAID ($ 140 million), European community ($ 100 million), besides support from Saudi Arabia (a pleasant change from funding madrassas), the UAE, UN and other countries. Brown also wants Pakistan to abolish child marriages (keep in mind the recent Council of Islamic Ideology controversy), child labour (a necessary prerequisite for universal school enrolment) and gender discrimination. He reflected the Pakistan government’s desire to double education expenditure to four percent of GDP to achieve the goal of universal education. He revealed that there are seven million children out of schools and 55 million people over the age of 10 who are illiterate in Pakistan. The promised $ 1 billion will be used to build schools, purchase equipment and train teachers. Brown said he was pleasantly surprised to see the change in Pakistan in the last two years, with people now recognizing that the future of the Pakistani economy depends on education. It has of course been an increasingly accepted view the world over that the future requires a knowledge-based society. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s revelation of his plan to launch a countrywide literacy movement to ensure universal enrolment of children in schools through a package of incentives coincided with Gordon Brown’s announcements. The prime minister said at an international conference in Islamabad titled ‘Unfinished Agenda in Education: the Way Forward’ that the government’s effort was to achieve the targets set by the Education for All and Millennium Development Goals within three years. The focus would be on science, technology, modern skills, prioritization of female education, participation of women in the decision-making process and the protection of women’s respect and dignity. Declaring the situation had become a national emergency, Nawaz Sharif argued for reaping the demographic dividend of over 50 percent of our people being below 25 years of age through proper education and training, otherwise this dividend could convert into a burden. The prime minister also highlighted the private sector’s contribution to education, pointing to the fact that 4.8 million (34 percent) of the 14.4 million primary stage enrolments are in the private sector, whose share is much higher at the lower, middle and secondary levels. There is no disputing the fact that Pakistan, with a youth bulge, is far behind many developing countries in education, literacy and a modern, enlightened society. The prime minister’s formulation that we face an education emergency can only be endorsed, with emphasis on working on a war footing, especially with Gordon Brown’s good news about finance being available for a crash education and literacy programme. Scarce resources, with defence, national security and debt taking the lion’s share, have made increasing the education budgets an uphill task. It goes without saying that the benefits of concentration on education on an emergency basis are diverse, multi-layered, and probably the best investment in a different, better future than our floundering present. Not only will the economy in a globalised world require a pool of educated human resource, investment in education and literacy with their collateral goal of enlightenment, is the exact antithesis of terrorism, extremism and all their attendant ills that afflict state and society currently. Whatever the outcome of the government’s present course of talking to the Taliban in the immediate or distant future, the underlying problem of crafting a national narrative that can counter the backward looking Taliban outlook requires the foundation of an educated, literate society. As part of the effort to promote these goals as soon as possible, the education emergency programme should consider double shifts in schools, providing milk and healthy food to school going children, and craft a parallel adult literacy drive to push Pakistan into the 21st century.

Daily Times editorial March 31, 2014

Education emergency Former British prime minister Gordon Brown since leaving office has taken up education as a mission. Currently the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Education, Mr Brown is well known for having gone out of his way to support Malala Yousafzai as part of his efforts for girls’ education worldwide. In a press conference in Islamabad on Saturday, Gordon Brown spelt out the world community’s plan to support education in Pakistan through finance of $ 1 billion over the next 3-4 years. A number of international organizations and countries have pledged the money, including the Global Partnership for Education ($ 100 million), USAID ($ 140 million), European community ($ 100 million), besides support from Saudi Arabia (a pleasant change from funding madrassas), the UAE, UN and other countries. Brown also wants Pakistan to abolish child marriages (keep in mind the recent Council of Islamic Ideology controversy), child labour (a necessary prerequisite for universal school enrolment) and gender discrimination. He reflected the Pakistan government’s desire to double education expenditure to four percent of GDP to achieve the goal of universal education. He revealed that there are seven million children out of schools and 55 million people over the age of 10 who are illiterate in Pakistan. The promised $ 1 billion will be used to build schools, purchase equipment and train teachers. Brown said he was pleasantly surprised to see the change in Pakistan in the last two years, with people now recognizing that the future of the Pakistani economy depends on education. It has of course been an increasingly accepted view the world over that the future requires a knowledge-based society. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s revelation of his plan to launch a countrywide literacy movement to ensure universal enrolment of children in schools through a package of incentives coincided with Gordon Brown’s announcements. The prime minister said at an international conference in Islamabad titled ‘Unfinished Agenda in Education: the Way Forward’ that the government’s effort was to achieve the targets set by the Education for All and Millennium Development Goals within three years. The focus would be on science, technology, modern skills, prioritization of female education, participation of women in the decision-making process and the protection of women’s respect and dignity. Declaring the situation had become a national emergency, Nawaz Sharif argued for reaping the demographic dividend of over 50 percent of our people being below 25 years of age through proper education and training, otherwise this dividend could convert into a burden. The prime minister also highlighted the private sector’s contribution to education, pointing to the fact that 4.8 million (34 percent) of the 14.4 million primary stage enrolments are in the private sector, whose share is much higher at the lower, middle and secondary levels. There is no disputing the fact that Pakistan, with a youth bulge, is far behind many developing countries in education, literacy and a modern, enlightened society. The prime minister’s formulation that we face an education emergency can only be endorsed, with emphasis on working on a war footing, especially with Gordon Brown’s good news about finance being available for a crash education and literacy programme. Scarce resources, with defence, national security and debt taking the lion’s share, have made increasing the education budgets an uphill task. It goes without saying that the benefits of concentration on education on an emergency basis are diverse, multi-layered, and probably the best investment in a different, better future than our floundering present. Not only will the economy in a globalised world require a pool of educated human resource, investment in education and literacy with their collateral goal of enlightenment, is the exact antithesis of terrorism, extremism and all their attendant ills that afflict state and society currently. Whatever the outcome of the government’s present course of talking to the Taliban in the immediate or distant future, the underlying problem of crafting a national narrative that can counter the backward looking Taliban outlook requires the foundation of an educated, literate society. As part of the effort to promote these goals as soon as possible, the education emergency programme should consider double shifts in schools, providing milk and healthy food to school going children, and craft a parallel adult literacy drive to push Pakistan into the 21st century.

Daily Times editorial March 31, 2014

Education emergency Former British prime minister Gordon Brown since leaving office has taken up education as a mission. Currently the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Education, Mr Brown is well known for having gone out of his way to support Malala Yousafzai as part of his efforts for girls’ education worldwide. In a press conference in Islamabad on Saturday, Gordon Brown spelt out the world community’s plan to support education in Pakistan through finance of $ 1 billion over the next 3-4 years. A number of international organizations and countries have pledged the money, including the Global Partnership for Education ($ 100 million), USAID ($ 140 million), European community ($ 100 million), besides support from Saudi Arabia (a pleasant change from funding madrassas), the UAE, UN and other countries. Brown also wants Pakistan to abolish child marriages (keep in mind the recent Council of Islamic Ideology controversy), child labour (a necessary prerequisite for universal school enrolment) and gender discrimination. He reflected the Pakistan government’s desire to double education expenditure to four percent of GDP to achieve the goal of universal education. He revealed that there are seven million children out of schools and 55 million people over the age of 10 who are illiterate in Pakistan. The promised $ 1 billion will be used to build schools, purchase equipment and train teachers. Brown said he was pleasantly surprised to see the change in Pakistan in the last two years, with people now recognizing that the future of the Pakistani economy depends on education. It has of course been an increasingly accepted view the world over that the future requires a knowledge-based society. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s revelation of his plan to launch a countrywide literacy movement to ensure universal enrolment of children in schools through a package of incentives coincided with Gordon Brown’s announcements. The prime minister said at an international conference in Islamabad titled ‘Unfinished Agenda in Education: the Way Forward’ that the government’s effort was to achieve the targets set by the Education for All and Millennium Development Goals within three years. The focus would be on science, technology, modern skills, prioritization of female education, participation of women in the decision-making process and the protection of women’s respect and dignity. Declaring the situation had become a national emergency, Nawaz Sharif argued for reaping the demographic dividend of over 50 percent of our people being below 25 years of age through proper education and training, otherwise this dividend could convert into a burden. The prime minister also highlighted the private sector’s contribution to education, pointing to the fact that 4.8 million (34 percent) of the 14.4 million primary stage enrolments are in the private sector, whose share is much higher at the lower, middle and secondary levels. There is no disputing the fact that Pakistan, with a youth bulge, is far behind many developing countries in education, literacy and a modern, enlightened society. The prime minister’s formulation that we face an education emergency can only be endorsed, with emphasis on working on a war footing, especially with Gordon Brown’s good news about finance being available for a crash education and literacy programme. Scarce resources, with defence, national security and debt taking the lion’s share, have made increasing the education budgets an uphill task. It goes without saying that the benefits of concentration on education on an emergency basis are diverse, multi-layered, and probably the best investment in a different, better future than our floundering present. Not only will the economy in a globalised world require a pool of educated human resource, investment in education and literacy with their collateral goal of enlightenment, is the exact antithesis of terrorism, extremism and all their attendant ills that afflict state and society currently. Whatever the outcome of the government’s present course of talking to the Taliban in the immediate or distant future, the underlying problem of crafting a national narrative that can counter the backward looking Taliban outlook requires the foundation of an educated, literate society. As part of the effort to promote these goals as soon as possible, the education emergency programme should consider double shifts in schools, providing milk and healthy food to school going children, and craft a parallel adult literacy drive to push Pakistan into the 21st century.

Daily Times editorial March 31, 2014

Education emergency Former British prime minister Gordon Brown since leaving office has taken up education as a mission. Currently the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Education, Mr Brown is well known for having gone out of his way to support Malala Yousafzai as part of his efforts for girls’ education worldwide. In a press conference in Islamabad on Saturday, Gordon Brown spelt out the world community’s plan to support education in Pakistan through finance of $ 1 billion over the next 3-4 years. A number of international organizations and countries have pledged the money, including the Global Partnership for Education ($ 100 million), USAID ($ 140 million), European community ($ 100 million), besides support from Saudi Arabia (a pleasant change from funding madrassas), the UAE, UN and other countries. Brown also wants Pakistan to abolish child marriages (keep in mind the recent Council of Islamic Ideology controversy), child labour (a necessary prerequisite for universal school enrolment) and gender discrimination. He reflected the Pakistan government’s desire to double education expenditure to four percent of GDP to achieve the goal of universal education. He revealed that there are seven million children out of schools and 55 million people over the age of 10 who are illiterate in Pakistan. The promised $ 1 billion will be used to build schools, purchase equipment and train teachers. Brown said he was pleasantly surprised to see the change in Pakistan in the last two years, with people now recognizing that the future of the Pakistani economy depends on education. It has of course been an increasingly accepted view the world over that the future requires a knowledge-based society. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s revelation of his plan to launch a countrywide literacy movement to ensure universal enrolment of children in schools through a package of incentives coincided with Gordon Brown’s announcements. The prime minister said at an international conference in Islamabad titled ‘Unfinished Agenda in Education: the Way Forward’ that the government’s effort was to achieve the targets set by the Education for All and Millennium Development Goals within three years. The focus would be on science, technology, modern skills, prioritization of female education, participation of women in the decision-making process and the protection of women’s respect and dignity. Declaring the situation had become a national emergency, Nawaz Sharif argued for reaping the demographic dividend of over 50 percent of our people being below 25 years of age through proper education and training, otherwise this dividend could convert into a burden. The prime minister also highlighted the private sector’s contribution to education, pointing to the fact that 4.8 million (34 percent) of the 14.4 million primary stage enrolments are in the private sector, whose share is much higher at the lower, middle and secondary levels. There is no disputing the fact that Pakistan, with a youth bulge, is far behind many developing countries in education, literacy and a modern, enlightened society. The prime minister’s formulation that we face an education emergency can only be endorsed, with emphasis on working on a war footing, especially with Gordon Brown’s good news about finance being available for a crash education and literacy programme. Scarce resources, with defence, national security and debt taking the lion’s share, have made increasing the education budgets an uphill task. It goes without saying that the benefits of concentration on education on an emergency basis are diverse, multi-layered, and probably the best investment in a different, better future than our floundering present. Not only will the economy in a globalised world require a pool of educated human resource, investment in education and literacy with their collateral goal of enlightenment, is the exact antithesis of terrorism, extremism and all their attendant ills that afflict state and society currently. Whatever the outcome of the government’s present course of talking to the Taliban in the immediate or distant future, the underlying problem of crafting a national narrative that can counter the backward looking Taliban outlook requires the foundation of an educated, literate society. As part of the effort to promote these goals as soon as possible, the education emergency programme should consider double shifts in schools, providing milk and healthy food to school going children, and craft a parallel adult literacy drive to push Pakistan into the 21st century.

Daily Times Editorial March 30, 2014

The terrorist threat The horrific incident of an attack on Express TV’s anchor Raza Rumi in Lahore on Friday night underlines the precarious condition of security for the media in Pakistan. Two motorcyclists, who Rumi thinks were waiting to ambush his car, opened fire with submachine guns while he was on his way home from work. The hail of bullets killed his driver and wounded his police guard. Fortunately Rumi received only minor cuts and abrasions. Reports say the killers had obviously been carrying out reconnaissance on Rumi’s routine. The media group he works for has had more than its share of unwanted attention from violent elements of late. This attack in Lahore is the fifth on the group since last August. Two attacks on the group’s offices in Karachi last year wounded five people, three of its employees were murdered in cold blood when their TV van was ambushed in Karachi, a bomb planted outside the group’s Peshawar bureau chief’s residence was fortunately disabled, and now this first of its kind attack in Lahore has yielded one death and injuries. The question arises why the group has been targeted in this manner. One explanation on offer is that the media group’s policies have annoyed extremist elements that are now seeking to silence it. Certainly this can be claimed in the case of Raza Rumi without fear of contradiction since he is well known for his outspoken views against the Taliban. Rumi himself did not speculate about the identity of the attackers when speaking to media after the incident, but did point to the reports of a hit list prepared by the Taliban to target media they considered ‘hostile’. Given this background, the cast of usual suspects is headed by the Taliban, specifically the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which ironically is engaged these days in ‘peace’ negotiations with the government. The TTP, as we have repeatedly argued in this space, is playing a tactical game of ostensibly engaging in peace negotiations while ‘sorting out’ some of its perceived enemies, particularly in the media. These actions are not only not claimed by the TTP, they are denied and ascribed to ‘rogue’ or ‘splinter' groups such as the Ahrarul Hind (claimed to have been responsible for the Islamabad courts complex attack but which some reports say was ordered by the TTP). While the Lahore attack has been roundly condemned by everyone from top to bottom of the government, political parties, traders, lawyers, doctors and other citizens, the journalists’ bodies had resolved to carry out protests on Saturday. Unfortunately, these bodies too have ‘woken up’ late to the threat posed to the media in Pakistan. A number of journalists have been killed over the years, earning Pakistan the dubious title of the most dangerous country in the world. According to Reporters Without Borders, seven journalists were killed in Pakistan over the last year alone. Alarmingly, neither the media industry itself nor the authorities seem to have any plan in mind to protect and secure journalists. Pakistan’s other dubious distinction, despite its lively media, is that it occupies 158th position out of 180 countries in press freedom rankings. This status is owed to pressures from powerful state and non-state actors, both of whom often use muscle when ‘persuasion’ fails to get their way. It must be admitted though that the terrorist threat is not confined to the media alone. PPP patron-in-chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has revealed that he has received a threat from the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), and said if anything happened to him, the Punjab government would be held responsible for its alleged soft attitude towards groups like the LeJ, widely believed to be based in Punjab and enjoying relative freedom of movement and action from there. It is good that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has responded to the report by ordering an investigation into the matter. The Punjab government has faced criticism over the last six years for allegedly allowing sectarian groups like the LeJ safe havens and operational freedom in Punjab, which arguably has fed into their sectarian horrors against the Hazara Shia in Quetta and Shias generally. The greatest illusion regarding groups like the TTP and LeJ is that they would be ‘grateful’ for such concessions, if any, and repay the ‘generosity’ by keeping their ‘base’ peaceful. Any attempt to keep one province an oasis of peace while the rest of the country burns is not something likely to enjoy a long shelf life, thanks to the predilections of the terrorists.

Daily Times Editorial March 28, 2014

First direct talks After toing and froing and a seesaw, hesitant beginning, not to mention the recasting of the negotiating teams on both sides, the government negotiating team has finally met face to face the Taliban shura (leadership council) in a remote village, Balandkhel, near the boundary between North Waziristan and Orakzai Agency. The government’s reconstituted team comprises former ambassador Rustam Shah Mohmand, former ISI officer Major Amir (these two the survivors from the government’s earlier team), bureaucrats Arbab Arif, Habibullah Khattak and Additional Secretary to the Prime Minister Fawad Hasan Fawad. The 13-member Taliban team was headed by Qari Shakeel, a militant leader from Mohmand Agency, and included Sajjad Mohmand, Azam Tariq, Maulvi Noor Said, Maulvi Asmatullah, Maulvi Bashir and Maulvi Zakir. The talks lasted for two sessions and spanned seven hours. From the sketchy details that have emerged from this first direct interaction between the two sides, it appears that the main items discussed were the ceasefire and release of non-combatants. The Taliban side committed to observing the ceasefire so long as the dialogue continues. They conditioned the release of high profile captives with the release of their 300 women and children allegedly being held by the security forces. Interestingly, the Taliban had earlier denied holding Professor Ajmal Khan, Vice Chancellor of the Islamia College University, Peshawar, former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani’s son Ali Haider Gillani and slain governor Salmaan Taseer’s son Shahbaz Taseer, although they had promised to help find them. The military on the other hand is on record as denying the claim that they were holding any women and children connected to the Taliban. The Taliban side also demanded an end to the weekly patrolling by the army in North Waziristan, presumably to allow them free movement in the Agency. The government side on the other hand, demanded a permanent ceasefire, release of high profile non-combatants and identification of the outfits indulging in terrorist acts even while the talks and ceasefire were in place. Ostensibly, these respective positions and the denial by both sides of holding each other’s non-combatant prisoners may appear to have created difficulty at the very first post, but too much should not be made of the initial positions in any negotiation. The hope is that both sides, if they are holding non-combatants, will see fit to release them in a mutually agreed manner, not only because justice demands the innocent be freed, but also as a confidence building measure between the two sides. The government team briefed Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar on their return to Islamabad on Thursday. Not surprisingly, the details of that briefing are not available. In one sense this is good, because too much exposure of what is transpiring at too early a stage can skew things and cause problems. Reportedly, the next round of face to face talks between the two teams is expected in a day or two, reflecting the positive atmospherics that appear to have been set in the first encounter. Maulana Samiul Haq, who has ‘fathered’ the Taliban in the past and is now in the forefront ostensibly of persuading the Taliban to engage in negotiations, appears highly enthusiastic and optimistic about what has transpired so far. His colleague, Professor Ibrahim of the Jamaat-e-Islami, is also optimistic. Both men are promising good news soon. If so, more power to their elbow. It would be a great advance if first and foremost the non-combatant prisoners of either side, if it can be proved that the Taliban’s claim has weight, were released in a mutually acceptable manner so as to bring to an end the agony of their families and loved ones. Second, the talks will be helped to continue if the ceasefire holds and the ‘spoiler’ groups like Ahrarul Hind who refuse to accept the talks process, are prevented from continuing with their terrorist actions. Peace is desirable, but the niggling thought remains what this peace will mean. If it helps consolidate the status and ground positions of the Taliban as an armed group challenging the state, the problem will not disappear. It will only have been postponed to another date down the line.

Daily Times editorial March 26, 2014

Nuclear Security Summit Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has used the platform of the Nuclear Security Summit he is attending along with heads of state and government of 53 countries in The Hague to argue Pakistan’s case as a responsible nuclear power. He outlined Pakistan’s nuclear security architecture, including an effective command and control system, safety and security of nuclear materials, and preventive measures to prevent any leakage of such materials. Having operated civilian nuclear power facilities safely for 40 years, the prime minister plugged Pakistan as qualifying to be part of the international nuclear energy regime, including membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Given Pakistan’s serious energy crisis, the argument may be considered to have weight. However, Pakistan has a dark past and reputation to overcome before it can be accepted formally into the nuclear club and its civilian use technology. Pakistan ‘went’ nuclear (i.e. weaponised) in response to India’s first nuclear explosion in 1974. Since the nuclear haves practice a form of nuclear apartheid as far as sharing the technology and knowhow with the have-nots, Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme had of necessity to be conducted clandestinely. However, after achieving nuclear capability, Pakistan got embroiled in the proliferation morass, with which Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan’s name has come to be associated, although he has always claimed he was made the fall guy by General Musharraf. Although India too had achieved nuclear weapons capability by clandestinely diverting nuclear material meant for civilian use to weapons development, it escaped with time the kind of strictures Pakistan was subjected to. So much so that India was offered a civilian nuclear energy deal by former US president George Bush, while Pakistan was and still is left out in the cold in this regard. China has come to Pakistan’s rescue in this as in so many other fields by setting up nuclear reactors for energy in Pakistan, a project still ongoing. Other than that, Pakistan has still to be accepted as a legitimate stakeholder in the nuclear field. The Nuclear Security Summit is seized of the threat of terrorists acquiring nuclear materials to build what has been dubbed a 'dirty’ bomb for their nefarious agendas. Pakistan being a nuclear-capable country with a terrorist threat on its soil is considered in some circles as at risk of leakage of such materials to terrorists. These apprehensions are factually incorrect, given the tight control of Pakistan’s nuclear materials, but suspicion is easier generated than overcome. Although in a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit Pakistan received an endorsement of its nuclear safety and security, with which the US has reportedly been involved and helped Pakistan to ensure control of its nuclear materials, this is still a long way to go from the privilege extended to India. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif attempted to nudge the US in his meeting with Kerry towards playing a role in resolution of issues between India and Pakistan, especially the Kashmir dispute, but this is unlikely to change the by now long standing situation of India rejecting third party mediation (since the Simla Accord of 1972) and the US and other powers being reluctant to step into this ‘minefield’ unless requested to do so by both sides, an unlikely hope. The US, according to Kerry, is “deeply engaged” with Pakistan on many issues, terrorism, nuclear safety and energy being amongst them, but he was reportedly quiet on Nawaz Sharif’s requests for civilian nuclear energy, mediation between India and Pakistan on Kashmir, and Pakistan’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. This ‘diplomatic’ silence is reflective of the state of Pakistan’s ability to nudge the world powers, particularly the US, towards a sympathetic consideration of its concerns. So long as this situation prevails, Pakistan is on its own as far as normalisation of relations with India after resolving their mutual problems is concerned, as well as, arguably, entry into the nuclear club on acceptable terms.

Daily Times Editorial March 25, 2014

Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif were prominent at the inauguration of the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus system on Sunday. Speaking on the occasion, the prime minister said the government was working day and night for peace in the country. Talks with the Taliban would start in a day or two, the prime minister underlined (latest reports say this could be within 24 hours). Peace, Nawaz Sharif argued, was critically needed for the economy to grow and prosper. Terrorism was the result of the wrong policies of the past, especially those of military dictators. The cost to the country has been enormous. Countries that were once lagging behind Pakistan have surpassed us because we are bogged down in the affliction of terrorism. The prime minister bemoaned the lack of any considerable development project for the last 10-15 years. The economy, he asserted, is lately showing improvement and exports are rising. He revealed that he had instructed Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to keep the value of the dollar below Rs 100 so as to benefit exports. Terrorism, corruption, unemployment, indiscipline and poverty have become the order of the day, Nawaz Sharif pointed out. The government intends to eliminate load shedding by adding 22,000 MW to the national grid by the end of its term in 2018. The new Islamabad airport will be completed by next year, the Islamabad-Muzaffarabad rail link and the Lahore-Karachi motorway would be initiated soon, the prime minister promised. The over Rs 40 billion Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus project would be completed in the record time of 10 months, Nawaz Sharif vowed. Similar projects would soon be initiated in south Punjab. Going by the speed of the earlier Lahore metro bus project, there is every expectation that the Rawalpindi-Islamabad project too would be completed with dispatch. However, cutting a bus route through built up areas and possibly green belts has always proved controversial. The Rawalpindi leg of the metro bus route will run on an elevated road to avoid as far as possible destruction of built up urban assets. In Islamabad it will run on the ground. However, the environmental concerns surrounding the project, especially in the Islamabad sector, refuse to go away. Legal challenges on the basis of such concerns have not been given relief by the courts because of national considerations, according to Shahbaz Sharif. Nevertheless the Capital Development Authority of Islamabad has been querying the start of the Rawalpindi leg of the route without clearing up its 12 reservations about the Environmental Impact Assessment Report by the National Engineering Services of Pakistan (Nespak). The green belts and cover along the Islamabad section of the bus route could be affected. Approval of the Environmental Impact Assessment Report by the Pakistan Environment Protection Agency is obligatory under the provisions of the Environment Protection Act 1997. Residents of Islamabad have voiced their concerns about the environmental impact, including on green belts and noise and pollution as a result of the plying buses. While dispatch is necessary for such projects to be competed efficiently and within budgeted costs, the country has to learn not to ignore environmental concerns if our cities are to avoid being converted into grey concrete jungles. The Sharif brothers have traditionally been very keen on infrastructure projects, particularly motorways, roads, public transport, etc. These are of course important for economic development. But they tend to favour commerce and industry most, which may not be surprising considering that the Sharifs come from a business background. However, diversion of enormous funds to such projects means resources to fulfil the needs of the people, particularly the poor, are hard to come by. While such projects help improve the quality of the business environment in the country, the need to also improve the people’s quality of life through education, health and other social services and facilities cannot be underestimated. After all, what purpose does development serve except to enrich the already wealthy unless the quality of life of the people is also improved?

Daily Times Editorial March 23, 2014

World Water Day THE World Water Development Report, the fifth in a series by UNESCO, published on the eve of World Water Day says surging populations and economies in the developing world will cause a double crunch in demand for water and energy in the coming decades. The report says the demand for clean water and electricity are intertwined and could badly strain Earth’s limited resources. Already, 768 million people do not have access to a safe, reliable source of water, 2.5 billion do not have decent sanitation and more than 1.3 billion do not have mains electricity. About 20 percent of the world’s aquifers today are depleted. Agriculture accounts for two-thirds of water use. The link between energy production and water lies in the fact that 90 percent of energy production uses water-intensive techniques. In 2010, this gobbled up 66 billion cubic metres of fresh water. The report’s snapshot of the future is frightening. Global water demand is likely to increase by 55percent by 2050. By then, more than 40 percent of the world’s population will be under severe water stress, many of them in the broad swathe of land from North Africa and the Middle East to western South Asia (Pakistan lies in the last region). Conflicts over water can be expected in the Aral Sea, Ganges-Brahmaputra River, Indus and Mekong River basins. Pakistan is already showing signs of water scarcity. This year’s drought in Thar, and now reportedly in Cholistan, is merely the reflection of changing weather patterns (causing lower rainfall), neglect of such desert regions, mismanagement, etc. Ironically, when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited Thar, he asked the question why such dire conditions had emerged in Thar but not in Cholistan. As though on cue, reports started to appear in the media soon after on Cholistan’s heading for a similar disaster. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has on the one hand denied any deaths in Cholistan (so far) and on the other trotted out the same arguments as Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah that migrations of the desert dwellers in times of drought are ‘normal’. If the latter got such bad press for this, how wise was it for the Punjab chief minister to rely on almost the same wording? If all is well in Cholistan, as Shahbaz Sharif argues, why has he felt the need at this moment to announce a Rs 2.37 billion package for Cholistan for provision of clean drinking water, construction of roads and development of the livestock sector? Clearly, the echoes of the criticism faced by the Sindh PPP government for its handling of the Thar crisis have resonated in Punjab’s hallowed halls of power. People in Pakistan, as in most parts of the developing world, do not have high expectations from their governments. They have learnt to adapt over the years to catastrophes such as droughts and if the calamity kills people and livestock, they accept it in a stoic manner as the inevitable fallout of nature’s ways. Such fatalism however, should not become an excuse for governments to wriggle out of their responsibility to deal with such recurring crises. All that has been done in Sindh as relief in Thar and what is now being mooted by Punjab for long term development of Cholistan should and could have been done earlier. The fact that the media highlighted the plight of the people of the deserts can be considered the main factor in the sudden waking up of the two governments to the misery, disease and death that afflicts communities eking out a living in the harsh and forbidding environment that is their home. It is time, given the alarm that has been raised by the drought in Thar and Cholistan, and in the light of the UN report quoted above, that long term plans be drawn up for the development of these areas, first and foremost the supply of clean drinking water, so that these children of a lesser god are not left to their own devices in the face of nature’s harsh afflictions, made worse by human neglect and mismanagement.

Daily Times Editorial March 24, 2014

Ritual and substance Important landmark days in Pakistan have for many years been reduced more to rhetoric and formal ritual rather than substance. One such example is March 23, Pakistan Day, on which in the historic Lahore session of the Muslim League, the Lahore Resolution, later renamed the Pakistan Resolution, was adopted. Given the context of the time, the Resolution attempted to address the problem of the Muslim community’s rights in an undivided India on the eve of independence. Although the Resolution’s wording envisaged a grouping of Muslim majority areas in the northwest and northeast of the country to constitute “independent states”, the thinking of the Muslim League at that time had not completely shut the door on a solution within the fold of a united India with adequate autonomy and constitutional safeguards for the Muslim minority in what would emerge as a Hindu majoritarian independent country. However, subsequent developments, especially the sabotage by Congress of the Cabinet Mission Plan in 1946 that Mr Jinnah had accepted, hardened positions in the direction of Muslim separation and the constitution of one independent state of Pakistan. This is reflected in the Muslim League’s 1946 Delhi Resolution, which replaced the word “states” in the original Lahore Resolution with “state”. Given the demographic of non-Muslim minorities within the territories envisaged as Pakistan, the rights of these minorities in the new state was central to the Muslim League’s vision. That vision, reflected later in the design of the Pakistan flag with a white stripe representing the minorities, owed much, if not everything, to Mr Jinnah’s enlightened philosophy. On August 11, 1947, three days before independence, in his address to the Constituent Assembly, the Quaid-e-Azam outlined his understanding of the contours of state and society in Pakistan, including his famous formulation that religion had “nothing to do with the business of the state”. In other words, Mr Jinnah’s advice to his countrymen was to render unto Caesar what belonged to Caesar and render unto God what belonged to Him. This was clearly a liberal, democratic, secular Pakistan envisaged by Mr Jinnah in which citizens, particularly non-Muslim minorities, would have equal rights. Looking back over our history, it is difficult to recognize in today’s Pakistan the country the Quaid had envisaged. Every March 23, stale and predictable statements, programmes and articles appear, bemoaning the ‘early’ demise of Mr Jinnah and the inability of his successors to adhere to his laid down blueprint. The rituals of statehood, military parades, 21-gun salutes and ritual celebrations (sometimes verging on yahooism), cannot hide the hollowness that Pakistani nationalism has been reduced to at its heart. The failures of the political class to lead the country after Mr Jinnah’s demise need no elaboration. Nor does the damage wrought by military interventions. To add to our accumulated woes, internal democracy and an acceptable democratic federal structure of the state were denied for long years, fuelling sub-nationalism and even separation. East Pakistan’s alienation and eventual separation to re-emerge as Bangladesh after a bloody civil war and Indian intervention is one of the sorry results of these trends. Post-1971, attempts to correct course, both at the level of democracy and a federal structure that respects the rights of the constituent units has had, to put it mildly, mixed success. Although the democratic and federal structure project has seen relative stability of late, our discontents received from the past are far from a settled issue. Tragically, the ‘new’ Pakistan we attempted to reconstruct after 1971 has seen, amongst other setbacks, the pummelling into fear and subjection of the minorities, including non-Muslim faiths, Ahmedis declared non-Muslims, and even Muslim denominations considered infidels and worthy of being eliminated by the extremist Wahabi/Salafi theology that owes its spread and domination to our foreign proxy adventures in the neighborhood. If Pakistan is not at peace with itself internally, nor is it at peace and enjoying good relations with any of its neighbours, with the exception of China. Course correction in the interests of a better future of the country includes the consolidation of democracy, turning the purposes of the state in the direction of upholding and ensuring the political, economic, social and religious rights of all citizens, especially the poor, abjuring foreign adventures in the neighbourhood and further abroad, ushering in peace and cooperation with all neighbouring countries and the larger world, and paying tribute to the Quaid-e-Azam by returning to his progressive vision. Let us, from the bottom of our collective heart, vow to replace ritual lip service to these goals by a sincere and effective movement towards the Pakistan Mr Jinnah wanted.

Daily Times Editorial March 22

Controversy laid to rest? Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, after attending a ceremony to rename Mianwali Air Base as M M Alam Air Base after the 1965 war hero who passed away a year ago, told newsmen that Pakistan was neither asked to, nor was sending any troops to other countries. His remarks were an attempt to put to rest the controversy that has broken out after visits from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain’s rulers and the $ 1.5 billion ‘gift’ from Saudi Arabia, allegedly in return for sending weapons and even troops to aid the rebels in Syria fighting to overthrow Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Admittedly, it makes no sense for Pakistan to even consider any move to send troops into the middle of the cauldron in Syria or for that matter in any other Muslim country. Pakistan has enough problems of its own on its plate and is in no position to indulge in any such ‘adventurism’. However, while the prime minister’s categorical assurance about no plan to send Pakistani troops abroad is reassuring, it did not touch upon the issue of possible weapons transfers via Saudi Arabia to the Syrian rebels. We have argued in this space that any such move would plunge Pakistan into the centre of the emerging sectarian conflict breaking out or ready to break out in the Arab and Muslim world. Every country has the right to formulate its policies in the light of its own interests, and that is what Pakistan must adhere to. Getting involved in other people’s quarrels is certainly a further aggravation the country does not need. In the meantime the Bahrain foreign and transport ministers accompanying the King on his visit to Pakistan stressed in a press conference in Islamabad that Bahrain had no intention to give Pakistan any Riyadh-type ‘gifts’ of money. Instead, 450 Bahraini business houses were poised to invest in Pakistan within the framework of the mutual cooperation agreements signed during the visit. Without naming Iran, the Bahraini ministers hinted at their country’s desire to normalise relations with Iran, perhaps with the hope that Pakistan can play a role in this regard. The Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson clarified in her weekly media briefing that Pakistan does not get involved in disputes between Muslim countries, always limiting its role to the desire to unify the Muslim world and play a non-partisan, helpful role in disputes without taking sides. Pakistan has its share of problems with Iran too, not the least the continuing slow genocide of Shias in Pakistan, the stalled Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline and Tehran’s complaints about insurgent groups operating from Pakistani soil across the Pakistan-Iran border. The prime minister is expected to visit Iran before June. Whether Islamabad can help to bridge the gulf between Iran and its Arab neighbours, including Bahrain, remains a moot point given that support from one or the other side to sectarian groups is pushing the Muslim world towards our version of Europe’s 500 years of sectarian wars before the separation of church and state there finally put such conflicts to rest. Even if the dire prognoses of a wider sectarian conflict breaking out in various parts of the Muslim world comes partially or wholly true, hopefully it will not be a repeat of Europe’s 500 years if sectarian wars in the 21st century when communication and modern statecraft are available. All Muslim states will need to bend their backs to, in the first place prevent, and if that proves impossible, defuse such conflicts. Pakistan’s good offices will only be credible if it stays away from taking any partisan positions. Pakistan needs economic investment and aid from all its friends, including those in the Muslim world. Given the serious crisis facing the country because of terrorism, which impacts negatively on economic development, Pakistan needs to focus on its internal problems, helped, wherever possible and in a manner compatible with good outcomes, by its friends in the Muslim world without even inadvertently slipping into any commitments that could end up exacerbating our problems.

Daily Times Editorial March 21, 2014

Damaging NYT report Carlotta Gall covered Afghanistan and Pakistan for The New York Times (NYT) from 2001 to 2013. Amongst her other accomplishments, she was deported from Pakistan for being ‘undesirable’. Now Ms Gall has written a book, The Wrong Enemy: America in Afghanistan, 2001-2014. Excerpts from the book have been published by the NYT, some of which make sensational reading. For example, the article alleges that ex-president Pervez Musharraf and ISI chief Lt-General Ahmed Shuja Pasha knew of the presence in Pakistan of Osama bin Laden (OBL) at his sprawling compound in Abbottabad. Further, that the ISI had established a special desk to handle OBL, manned by an officer who was empowered to make his own decisions and did not report to a superior. He allegedly handled only one person: OBL. The report cites an unnamed Pakistani official alleging that the US had direct evidence implicating Pasha. The report goes on to allege that evidence found in OBL’s residence in Abbottabad showed he was in correspondence with Hafiz Saeed of Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Mullah Omar of the Afghan Taliban, amongst other extremist leaders. Further allegations paint a picture of cells in the ISI working against and fighting the Taliban, while others were supporting them. OBL, the report suggests, travelled to the tribal areas for a meeting with Qari Saifullah Akhtar, the latter blamed by a Pakistani intelligence source of planning to assassinate Benazir Bhutto on her return to Pakistan in 2007 and that General Musharraf was aware of the plan. Sensational as some of these allegations and accusations are, it comes as no surprise that top intelligence officials, ISPR and the Foreign Office, not to mention sources in Pakistan’s Washington embassy, have flatly rejected the report as ‘fabricated, baseless’ and even a ‘pack of lies’. These institutions reassert that no one in Pakistan knew of OBL’s presence in Abbottabad. Ms Gall stands accused in turn by these spokespeople as interested in maligning Pakistan and its secret agencies, especially the ISI. Hafiz Saeed for his part has flatly denied ever knowing or corresponding with OBL. Mullah Omar, it seems, has left the building and is not available for comment. It may be recalled that after the 2011 Abbottabad raid by US SEALS that ended with the killing of OBL, the military and ISI were hugely embarrassed by the debacle. General Pasha attempted to take responsibility for the intelligence failure and offered to resign, but parliament granted him and all the top brass a reprieve and a clean chit of at best incompetence rather than being complicit in harbouring OBL. The resurrection of allegations of complicity in the NYT, and perhaps even more embarrassingly in the detailed account in the forthcoming book, has put everyone in authority at the time in an uncomfortable place. Perhaps only when the book is available and can be perused for any evidence the author can muster for her serious allegations will objective observers be in a position to judge the veracity of the bombshell accusations. However, irrespective of that outcome, what may be triggered even further by such accusations is the strengthening of an increasingly vocal caucus in the US Congress that refuses to accept Pakistan as a US ally, arguing for a cut off of aid to Pakistan. That argument is unlikely to be settled only on the basis of Ms Gall’s ‘revelations’. Washington has many concerns about maintaining the relationship with Islamabad going into a future that has several critical markers. One is the withdrawal of western forces from Afghanistan by the end of the year and the subsequent fallout in Afghanistan, handling which will require the cooperation of Pakistan. Pakistan’s own internal terrorism problem too is on the US’s radar, recognising as it does the risks of a nuclear-armed state under terrorist siege. US aid is an investment in the stability, prosperity and peaceful development of Pakistan, a goal considered very important given the experience of Washington taking its eye off the regional ball after 1989, which opened the door to 9/11. So, while looking forward to a good read of a book that promises thrills and spills but whose truth will only be judged on whatever evidence is produced, the US and Pakistan have already turned a corner from 2011 and the estrangement that followed to forge a relationship that hopefully looks forward, not back.

Daily Times Editorial March 20, 2014

NISP implementation The meeting chaired by Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday on national security saw the top civilian and military leadership, as well as the provincial leaderships, coming together to be briefed and take steps towards implementing the National Internal Security Policy (NISP) framed over months and finally approved in February. Surprisingly though, if the PM’s instructions to the meeting are anything to go by, the necessary institutional steps and changes required for implementation of the NISP seem to be awaiting something or the other. The PM ordered the immediate formation of a Rapid Response Force (RRF) at both the federal and provincial levels and the setting up of a National Intelligence Directorate (NID) under the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA). NACTA is envisaged as the central coordinating and implementation body for the NISP. Both the RRF and NID were part of, if not central to, the NISP, both conceptually and practically. The RRF is expected to field trained commandos armed with the latest weaponry and equipment and even helicopters for swift deployment at the scene of any terrorist attack. The provincial chief ministers at the meeting raised the issue of resources for the RFF, but were reassured by the PM that funds would be made available by the federal government for the purpose. The NID is a more difficult nettle, given that 26 intelligence agencies, civilian and military, according to Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali, are supposed to come together for intelligence sharing and creation of a centralised data base on the terrorists and their links. Everyone recognizes the inherent difficulty in persuading intelligence agencies to share their information, particularly given the gulf of trust between the civilian and military arms of the intelligence community. However, organisational turf concerns will have to give way to the national purpose of the struggle against terrorism if the country is to be incrementally freed of the malign effects of terrorism. Facing an elusive enemy that is battle hardened and by now expert at guerrilla and asymmetrical warfare through small groups of fighters, only a central data base can track organisational and operational links amongst the groups functioning under autonomous rules and monitor successes and failures in cracking open their organisations, notwithstanding the hope that some of the groups under the umbrella of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) agree to peace. However, no one should underestimate the uphill nature of the task. The meeting also reviewed the new legislative framework promulgate d through instruments such as the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance (PPO), which makes electronic evidence admissible, allows video link trials, transfer of trials and prisoners to other provinces and has provisions for the preventive detention of enemy aliens. This last provision has aroused a great deal of comment and controversy, not the least because the TTP accuses the government of promulgating the PPO to legitimize secret detentions and the centres all over the country allegedly used for the purpose. Whatever the truth or otherwise of this accusation, one cannot escape the necessity of extraordinary laws that may risk violations of human rights in the middle of a war. One can only hope that the government will also make arrangements for judicial review to prevent injustice. The PM was also keen to see maximum security prisons being built in all the provinces. This too is not unimportant if we remember the jailbreaks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that allowed hundreds of Taliban prisoners to walk free without a shot being fired in anger. What is surprising and puzzling is that despite the NISP receiving the government’s nod last month, the pace of implementation of its ideas does not seem to be proceeding with the dispatch the situation requires. Some may question the need for rapid implementation of the NISP given the peace talks process unfolding before our eyes. However, one cannot be sanguine about the success of the talks or even whether all groups will join in the process. As is well know by now, there are breakaway groups such as the Ahrarul Hind that have declared themselves against the peace talks and put their money where their mouth is by carrying out attacks to halt the process in its tracks. That they have not been successful in, but the PM’s advice to the TTP to tackle such groups itself is unlikely to find fertile ground. The TTP may be unhappy about splinter groups attempting to sabotage the peace talks, but it is unlikely to act as a policeman to bring them into line. The government is advised to take the necessary steps for implementation of the NISP on a war footing, starting with strengthening NACTA to play the role envisaged for it, which on present reports about its officers and structure, still seems a long way away.

Daily Times Editorial March 19, 2014

Prisoners’ exchange Professor Mohammad Ibrahim of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a member of the Taliban-appointed negotiating committee, has said a list of 300 women, children and the elderly detained by the government has been handed over to Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali for their release. The professor also says a general amnesty for the Taliban is desirable and the withdrawal of the army from at least Laddah and Makeen tehsils (sub-districts) of South Waziristan if a total withdrawal is not acceptable would boost confidence on both sides going into direct talks with the government. He clarified that these are proposals rather than demands. He also revealed that the release of Vice Chancellor Mohammad Ajmal Khan of Islamic College University, Peshawar, slain Governor Salmaan Taseer’s son Shahbaz Taseer and former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani's son Ali Haider Gillani, all held by the Taliban, were to be discussed with the Taliban shura (leadership council). Professor Ibrahim informed his party’s leadership that three venues were under consideration for the direct talks, but refrained from revealing the sites. Another idea floated by Maulana Samiul Haq, the head of the Taliban-appointed negotiation committee, is for a ‘free peace zone’ for meetings between the two sides. This is necessary, the Maulana said, because the Taliban leadership is underground and fears arrest of it surfaces without adequate guarantees of safety. He pointed out that the FC and other law enforcement agencies have set up many check posts, which restrict the free movement of the Taliban. In answer to a question, Maulana Samiul Haq said he was not aware of the whereabouts of Mullah Fazlullah, the chief of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Government sources however dismiss any danger to the Taliban leadership while negotiations are underway. The TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid poured scorn on Defence Minister Khwaja Asif’s statement the other day that no women or children are under detention, echoing the army’s rejection of the claim, by saying the minister was neither aware of the hundreds of detention centres set up by the security forces in FATA, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, nor of the number of detainees held in such centres. He accused the government of promulgating the Pakistan Protection Ordinance to legitimise these secret detentions. Reportedly, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar has promised to look into the list of 300 detainees he has received. Once the venue and composition of the Taliban leadership team for negotiations are sorted out, talks are expected to begin soon. The proposals floated for a general amnesty, partial withdrawal of the army from South Waziristan and the release of detained non-combatants in return for non-combatants held by the Taliban may all be considered confidence building measures sought by the Taliban side. How much or how many of these proposals would prove acceptable to the government or security forces remains a matter of conjecture. At the very least, the non-combatants of both sides deserve their freedom. The government has indicated it will take action against all Taliban groups that oppose the peace negotiations process. It may be recalled that splinter groups of the TTP such as Ahrarul Hind have come out openly against the peace talks and carried out deadly attacks even as the government and TTP are inching their way towards their first face-to-face talks. While the procedure, etc, of the talks may be more amenable of solution, it is the content of the talks that remains a worry. The Taliban’s maximalist demands are the complete withdrawal of the army from FATA (to give them free run of the area once again) and the imposition of their narrow and reactionary version of sharia. If they trot these out again at the negotiating table, it is difficult to see how the dialogue can proceed. And the government’s demands in turn, including a permanent ceasefire and the acceptance by the Taliban of the constitution and democratic system cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered easy to achieve. Where, then, is the middle ground between the two sides that may give hope for a compromise? And if the compromise includes unprincipled concessions by the government, how long would such an agreement last? Many questions, very few clear answers so far.

Daily Times Editorial March 18, 2014

Crimea votes The people of Crimea have spoken. In a referendum held on Sunday to decide whether the peninsula should join Russia or go back to the 1992 constitution that effectively made Crimea an autonomous region within Ukraine, 93 percent of Crimea’s 1.5 million voters plumped for joining Russia. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has vowed to respect the vote. The west, however, with the US and European Union in the lead, has indicated sanctions against Russia would follow. After the horse has bolted, US Secretary of State John Kerry tried to shut the stable door by demanding that Russia pull back its forces to their bases in Crimea in return for constitutional reforms in Ukraine to protect minority rights. The European Union was meeting yesterday (Monday) to decide on sanctions against Russia that could include the possible seizure of the foreign assets of top Kremlin officials and travel bans for senior ministers. What was conspicuous by its absence was any mention of the issue of Russian gas supplies, on which the European Union is critically dependent. If Russia’s riposte to the threatened sanctions, described by Russia’s Deputy Economy Minister Alexei Likhachev as ‘symmetrical’, is forthcoming, the first issue that could arise is precisely these gas supplies. Of course this is a double-edged sword, since Russia too will lose its gas revenues if it cuts off supplies. The west has forced Russia’s hand by backing and supporting the government that is in power in Kiev because of street protests that turned violent and led to the flight from Ukraine of former president Viktor Yanukovich. This government has within its ranks neo-fascists and sundry other ‘luverly’ characters. It has been widely rejected by the people of Crimea who are overwhelmingly Russian speaking, as well as the predominantly Russian speaking east of the country. In the east’s major city Donetsk, pro-Russian protestors have come out against the authorities, demanding the release of their self-appointed governor. Whether this portends the further break up of Ukraine is too early to say. But the provocative actions of western-backed protestors who overthrew Yanukovich in a street coup evoked the inherent ethnic and linguistic divide in Ukraine, with Russian origin citizens rejecting the government in Kiev amidst fears for their safety and future. Meanwhile Russian and Ukrainian forces in Crimea that have been in a state of eyeball-to-eyeball standoff since the crisis broke have reached a temporary ‘truce’ to lift the blockade around Ukrainian bases. The agreement however, is reportedly being implemented patchily, which highlights the continuing tense situation in the peninsula despite the overwhelming result of the referendum. The US-led west is culpable for provoking crises and conflict in an ill-advised campaign of regime change in countries that traditionally proved a thorn in the sides of western interests (Iraq, Libya and Syria come readily to mind). In the ex-Soviet countries on Russia’s periphery (the ‘near abroad’ as it has been dubbed), the west has been fanning unrest through the so-called ‘colour’ revolutions in the past and trying to wean these countries away by subversion and coercion from Russia’s orbit. NATO was even contemplating deploying missiles on Russia’s borders, ostensibly aimed at Iran (which hardly threatens the west), but logically raising a threat perception in Moscow. All this subversive activity is the west’s mistaken notion that after the Cold War ended with the implosion of the Soviet Union, the path was clear for reordering the world according to western preferences. Though they may have succeeded in the regime change military interventions in Iraq and Libya, the campaign has since seen setbacks in Syria and now Ukraine. The hypocrisy of the west in rejecting the right of the people of Crimea to self-determination is exposed by their forcible breaking away of Kosovo from Serbia, precisely through a referendum! Clearly, in the western capitals, what is sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander. This dangerous interventionist adventurism in the post-Cold War world is inflammatory, unwise and potentially laden with the prospects of wider conflict and a new cold war. The good news is that large parts of the non-western world are waking up to the malign designs of the west and digging their heels in against further adventures. That may still be the best hope of persuading the west to cease and desist from its provocations.

Non-combatant prisoners The talks process continues to meander on. On Saturday, the government side had interactions with the Taliban-appointed negotiations committee that had just returned from talks with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) shura in North Waziristan. Professor Ibrahim and Maulana Samiul Haq have both conveyed the message that the TTP seeks to convert the present temporary ceasefire into a permanent one. In imitation of the TTP’s recent moves, unconfirmed reports say al Qaeda and Jundullah have also agreed to a ceasefire for a limited period. The issue of the venue for the next round of talks between the newly reconstituted government negotiating committee and the Taliban remains under discussion without conclusion. The two sides have made various suggestions regarding the venue, which must meet the security and safety considerations of both. According to Professor Ibrahim, North Waziristan has been ruled out as the venue since the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group is fearful that if the talks fail, they would face the brunt of any military operation in North Waziristan. Again according to Professor Ibrahim, South Waziristan has been mooted as a possible venue. But it seems the government side is not too enthusiastic about FATA generally as a venue, since it remains the ‘wild and woolly east’ in which the government negotiators may not be safe. That is why the government has put forward Bannu as an alternative, being located in the settled areas yet close enough to FATA to facilitate the Taliban side. The issue of the venue is not unimportant, given the state of law and order in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA. One reminder of the state of affairs came from the incident in which 18 Shinwari Afridi tribesmen were abducted from a suburb of Peshawar on Saturday. Reports say the abductions may have been kidnappings for ransom, one of the growth industries in the area whenever times are troubled. The kidnapping for ransom ‘industry’ has targeted many in Pakistan over many years, with some victims still awaiting release and freedom. In a meeting with the Ulema Council the other day, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had said the government was contemplating the release of non-combatant Taliban prisoners if it was proved they were not involved in terrorism (and provided they receive a clean chit from the intelligence and security agencies that they will not join or return to the ranks of the terrorists). Speculation has been sparked in the media about whether the prime minister’s statement meant to include the women and children the Taliban say are being held by the authorities. Since the claim has been roundly refuted by the army, that seems unlikely. However, the fact is that the security establishment is reportedly holding some 735 Taliban prisoners in about a dozen internment centres. The release of some, if not all, should not however be contemplated before extracting a quid pro quo from the Taliban that non-combatant Pakistanis being held for ransom or other reasons by the Taliban be released in return and the kidnapping for ransom industry be closed down. Amongst others, slain Governor Salmaan Taseer’s and former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani’s sons are still in the custody of militants. It would be a great service if the agony of their families were put to an end by linking the release of non-combatant Taliban prisoners considered safe to be freed with the release of all non-combatant Pakistanis in the custody of the militants. The victims of such kidnappings are innocent people who have unfortunately run foul of this criminal activity because of being at the wrong place at the wrong time or family and other links. For example, what sin have the sons of the two PPP leaders mentioned above committed? They are simply the collateral victims of the Taliban’s conflict with the state. The fact that their fathers were or are in politics does not and should not justify their being held (for years now in the case of Shahbaz Taseer) for no fault of theirs. The innocent offspring of these political leaders as well as all those being held for ransom or other reasons should be released as part of any deal with the Taliban to release some of their prisoners. Justice and fairness demand little else.

Daily Times Editorial March 16, 2014

Bombings and peace talks In two bombings in Peshawar and Quetta on Friday, 19 people were killed and between 60 and 80 wounded. While the attack by a suicide bomber on the outskirts of Peshawar targeted a police armoured personnel carrier, a bicycle bomb exploded in the heart of Quetta, reportedly aiming to target the security forces. Whatever the targets, the ordinary citizens going about their business were the largest set of casualties. Ahrarul Hind, which describes itself as a splinter group that has broken away from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and earlier attacked the Islamabad courts complex, claimed responsibility for both attacks. Ahrarul Hind said it was opposed to the talks the TTP is engaged in and had not announced any ceasefire. Therefore it would continue its attacks until the imposition of ‘sharia’. The TTP distanced itself from the attacks, saying it would respect the ceasefire announced by its shura (leadership council). As usual, critics of the whole peace-through-talks approach of the government were quick to question the claims of Ahrarul Hind and the TTP that they had nothing to do with each other any more (if they ever did). There are only two possible and logical explanations for the anomaly that the TTP is ostensibly ‘talking peace’ while its splinter groups are continuing to wage war against the state: either the TTP has lost control over splinter groups like the Ahrarul Hind or this is a tactic to shift blame from the TTP for the continuing attacks while the ostensible peace process is unfolding and allow the latter to maintain plausible deniability. It is not beyond the realm of possibility, however, that the terrorists have resorted to the time-honoured tactic of talking while fighting while retaining a thin fig leaf of rogue splinter groups being responsible for the attacks. If this proves to be the case, the question arises whether the outcome of talks with the TTP, even if they arrive at some ‘compromise’, can honestly be described as ‘peace’. Nearly 7,000 people have been killed in attacks by the TTP and its affiliates since 2007 when the TTP emerged, more than 120 of them since the talks process started in late January. Either this describes talking while fighting or highlights the probability of the war continuing even if some accommodation is (temporarily?) achieved with the TTP. Meanwhile the Taliban-appointed committee has resurfaced after meeting the TTP shura somewhere in North Waziristan with the news, announced by Maulana Samiul Haq, that the TTP is prepared to hold direct talks with the government through the latter’s newly reconstituted talks committee. However, the caveats put forward by the TTP once again throw the announcement in doubt. Maulana Samiul Haq says the TTP wants the army to withdraw from South Waziristan so that the talks can be held there, insists on its demand for the imposition of sharia according to its narrow, literalist, violent views, and has once again trotted out the demand that the women and children of the Taliban in custody be freed. Withdrawing the army from any of the areas it has cleared of terrorists, especially South Waziristan, would negate the blood and sacrifices of the armed forces in driving the terrorists at least partially out of their former strongholds, which would also allow the Taliban to once again impose their control over such areas through the barrel of a gun. Sharia of the kind the TTP wants is unacceptable to the people of Pakistan, not to mention it is against the constitution and the democratic system of the country. The women and children prisoners’ release demand has already been refuted by the army as having no reality. If these demands constitute preconditions for the talks, what are the bets they will not take off, let alone arrive at any conclusion? And even if they do, the government still owes it to the people to explain what the contours of such a ‘conclusion’ would be. All in all, the confusion is worse confounded, with the government sanguine about its approach and the people puzzled, angry, and resentful of the government’s lack of will to tackle the amoeba-like terrorists head on.