Daily Times Editorial Jan 16, 2016

Spoilers galore The received wisdom in India (and perhaps the world) in recent years has it that spoilers of the peace process with Pakistan emanate from the latter’s soil. Indeed if the 2001 attack on India’s parliament, the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the Gurdaspur and the recent Pathankot incidents are any guide, it seems an open and shut case. What has been a grey area is the involvement of the state or its security establishment in such adventures. Whatever the past truth, today it seems the security establishment too has been persuaded of the current wisdom of engaging with India for peace and normalisation, no matter how difficult or intractable the roadblocks. However, there are spoilers and spoilers, and there appears no dearth of such Johnnies on either side of the divide. The vandalisation of the PIA office in New Delhi by Hindu Sena hardliners on January 14 points in the direction of the enemies of the peace and normalisation process within India. While the damage was to the office and fittings and mercifully the staff remained unharmed, it was a clear message that the recent attempts at rapprochement after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘drop in’ on our prime minister would not be allowed to go on if the Hindutva brigade has its way. Unfortunately for the obscurantists, both Pakistan and India have swung round to the view of late (after an inauspicious start by the Modi government) that there is no alternative to a dialogue. Despite the fact that the Hindutva brigade is closely aligned to Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party government, it appears there is a rift between the newfound pragmatism of Modi and his more extreme supporters. It has long been argued that Pakistan and India need to escape the syndrome of being prisoners of history and realise that as in any peace process, there will be vested interests on both sides that will attempt to sabotage progress. Fortunately, the logic of engagement has sunk in on both sides and the nefarious attempts by non-state actors on one or the other side are being resisted in both Islamabad and New Delhi. This can only be viewed as the triumph (hopefully permanent) of statesmanship and vision over the remnants of a more hostile past. The PIA office vandalisation is being investigated by the Indian authorities, one perpetrator is under arrest, and the others are being sought. Compare this responsible response with the Pakistan government’s serious efforts to clamp down on Jaish-e-Mohammad, blamed by India for the Pathankot attack, and one can discern the new pattern emerging. Hopefully the spoilers have had their day and if they have not yet received the news of the new turn in relations, they would soon be disabused of the notion that they can carry on business as usual as in the past. Neither the Pathankot attack nor the efforts of the Hindu Sena have deterred either government from staying the course. The foreign secretaries’ talks have been rescheduled by mutual consent, not cancelled, and the crackdown on Jaish-e-Mohammad has been extended to southern Punjab (its stronghold) and even Sialkot, where a seminary being run by the group has been sealed and some arrests made. So far, so good. But the uncertainty surrounding the Punjab government’s failure to tackle all manner of jihadi groups in the province, particularly in its southern reaches, is fast acquiring the character of a real concern. Maulana Masood Azhar and his gang of fanatics have obviously not been on the radar of Lahore. On the evidence so far, neither have any of the other terrorist and sectarian groups proliferating in their safe havens in the province. The dichotomy between the federal government’s response to Pathankot on the basis of actionable intelligence provided by India contrasts all the more sharply with Punjab’s seemingly indifferent and irresponsible dereliction of its duty to watch and if found indulging in unlawful activities, wipe out the malcontents damaging Pakistan’s interests and image. It is strange that elder brother is bending his back to keep the peace process intact while the younger brother seems still to live in the illusions of the past, including his infamous appeal at one point to the home grown Taliban to leave Punjab alone and they would be left alone in return. Need we remind everyone that Punjab is part of Pakistan, and a very important part at that. Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has a lot of explaining and catching up with Islamabad to do.

Daily Times Editorial Jan 15, 2016

It ain’t over yet The suicide blast at a polio centre in Quetta and the attack on the Pakistan consulate in Jalalabad in Afghanistan on January 13 point to the fact that the struggle against terrorism is far from over. The incident in Quetta has evoked at least three claims of responsibility, i.e. from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Jaish-e-Islam and Jundullah. All three are jihadi terrorist groups that oppose the polio eradication programme on spurious grounds such as a conspiracy to make children infertile through the drops administered to prevent the crippling disease. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries left in the world where polio is endemic. Progress in eradicating the menace in Pakistan has been thwarted by the deaths of 80 immunisers, their guards and others since December 2012 in such attacks. The immunisers, mostly women, are therefore heroes on the front line of the polio campaign, at considerable risk to life and limb. In Quetta, the bulk of the casualties were from the police contingent deployed outside the polio centre, waiting to escort the polio teams on their day’s immunisation drive. Twelve policemen, one FC soldier and two civilians were among the dead, while 25 people were injured, some critically. In Jalalabad, three attackers and seven Afghan troops were killed in the gun battle. Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility, with its rival the Afghan Taliban distancing themselves from the incident. One consulate staffer, three children and seven police personnel were among the injured according to reports, but this was denied by the Pakistani foreign office spokesman, who contended all consulate staff were safe and unharmed. President Ashraf Ghani telephoned Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif to condemn the attack and express solidarity, and the PM in turn stressed his sorrow for the loss of Afghan troops’ lives. Ghani assured the PM Afghanistan would provide enhanced security for Pakistani diplomatic staff in the country. The attack has drawn comparisons with the ‘siege’ of the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif a week ago. The two incidents in the two neighbouring countries offer insights and lessons. In Pakistan, Operation Zarb-e-Azb’s successes notwithstanding, we have been warning in this space that the problem has not gone away. The TTP terrorists have been pushed across the border from their safe havens in FATA or driven underground in the rest of the country. The counter-terrorism drive under the National Action Plan has unfortunately yet to commend itself, largely because it is an orphan, with the federal interior minister a reluctant point man and the lack of a centralised coordinating centre for the task. It is heartening nevertheless to hear statements of intent from the Balochistan government to pursue the polio campaign despite the atrocity and to continue the struggle against terrorism to the bitter end. Intent notwithstanding, the two attacks on the same day point to the residual terrorist capabilities of jihadi groups under the hammer here, and the possible collaboration of TTP and other Pakistani groups who have fled to Afghanistan with IS on Afghan soil. The Afghan authorities are claiming that the bulk of the IS fighters in their country are from Pakistan’s FATA, and therefore quite possibly from the groups that have sought safety in Afghanistan. If this surmise is correct, it suggests the critical need for Pak-Afghan coordinated strategies for overcoming the common challenge of terrorism and the construction of the counter-terrorist architecture required in Pakistan, which has so far been conspicuous by its absence. In the latter case, fighting the plethora of terrorist groups at home without a coordinating centre is to fight with one hand tied behind one’s back. There are the issues of bringing the military and civilian intelligence and security agencies under one umbrella, constructing a centralised database for all terrorist groups, and mounting intelligence-led operations to eradicate the elusive presence of the terrorists in our midst. The FATA operation’s success has reduced the counter-insurgency task more or less to guarding against cross-border incursions by the TTP and others. The lack of satisfactory success in the counter-terrorism area is the lag that needs to be addressed along the lines suggested above. The government’s failure to lead on this front, conceptually, organisationally and in practice on the ground is the major cause of the less than satisfactory rendering of accounts with the fanatics. The government must urgently address this lapse.

Daily Times Editorial Jan 9, 2016

Saudi FM’s visit Saudi Foreign Minister Dr Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir finally made good his postponed visit. The visit has been billed by the Pakistani authorities as ‘successful’. But if we go behind the seemingly consensual joint statement at the end of the visit, much light can be thrown on the dilemmas of Islamabad vis-à-vis the current rupture between Saudi Arabia and Iran and its consequent fallout on the region and the world. At the outset, it should be recalled that the incumbent government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is considered very close, if not beholden, to Riyadh. Despite that, Islamabad has found the courage to say ‘no’ to the Saudi attempt to drag Pakistan into a sectarian war in Yemen on its side. For once, the government deserves credit for placing Pakistan’s interests above any momentary or expedient considerations of keeping our ‘close’ friend happy. Similarly, in the middle of the growing conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran over the former’s execution of prominent Shia cleric and critic of the Saudi regime Nimr al-Nimr, Islamabad is trying to remain as ‘neutral’ as possible for fear it too may get dragged into this sectarian conflict. So what was on offer for the Saudi foreign minister were soothing phrases about Pakistan standing shoulder to shoulder with Saudi Arabia against any threat to its territorial integrity and sovereignty and little else. These were the same formulations used to placate Riyadh and its allies over Pakistan’s refusal to commit troops to the Yemen civil war on the side of Saudi Arabia and against the Houthi rebels considered by the Saudis to be Iranian surrogates. As far as the 34-country alliance against ‘terrorism’ announced by Saudi Arabia without it seems even consulting Islamabad as to its inclusion, Pakistan’s reservations regarding the sectarian character of the alliance from which Iran, Syria and Iraq are excluded, have persuaded Dr Al-Jubeir to offer Pakistan (and other members) involvement in the alliance to the extent they wanted. Pakistan so far has only committed to providing training, capacity building and counter-insurgency help. The significant omission here (again) is deployment of troops in what Nawaz Sharif papered over as an anti-terrorist alliance to whose purposes Islamabad stands committed but which in fact is a continuation of Riyadh’s current thrust to roll back Iran’s growing influence and clout in the region and rehabilitation in the international community since the nuclear deal. After the Saudi foreign minister’s return, at the time of writing these lines it has been announced that Mohammad bin Salman, the King’s son, Deputy Crown Prince and Defence Minister is coming to Pakistan (on a follow up?). Mohammad bin Salman is credited, along with his father King Salman, with Saudi Arabia’s current aggressive posture vis-à-vis Iran and Shias in general. Their comfort with brinkmanship on this front would have been unthinkable under King Salman’s late brother King Abdullah, who adhered to Riyadh’s typically cautious approach to such matters. Prince Mohammad has attempted to reassure a jittery world through an interview to the Economist that the crisis will not lead to an all-out war. Clearly this is a message to the oil markets as well as allies and friends across the globe that despite the ransacking of Riyadh’s embassy in retaliation for al-Nimr’s execution, which led to Saudi Arabia breaking off diplomatic relations with Iran, the conflict would be contained. Pressure from ‘big’ friends like Washington and even the UN may also be playing a role in dampening Riyadh’s ambitions to nudge Tehran off its perch and establish its own credentials as the pre-eminent power in the region. These ambitions have negative connotations for the efforts to secure peace in Syria and forge an international coalition against Islamic State, arguably the main threat to all regimes in the region and beyond. Meantime back home, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has seen fit, in the light of the sensitivity of the issue and the delicate balancing act Islamabad is essaying to keep its relations with Riyadh and Tehran on an even keel and leave open the option of playing a mediatory role between the two, to ‘advise’ the electronic media to exercise ‘restraint’ while discussing the Saudi-Iranian quarrel. The opposition is unnecessarily weighing in against the government for this balancing act, not caring for such sensitivity and demanding ‘leadership’ from Islamabad. Leadership of what, for what, is unexplained. Better for Pakistan to keep its powder dry and stay out of sectarian quagmires. In that lies the real interest of the country.

Daily Times Editorial Jan 3, 2016

Tax amnesty again Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif has reached out to his business constituency to bolster tax revenues. In a meeting with business leaders on Friday at the PM’s secretariat, Nawaz Sharif appealed to the traders’ sense of patriotism to help the country’s development needs by cooperating with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in paying taxes under a concessional amnesty scheme. The scheme envisages amnesty for non-filers and a voluntary tax filing procedure over the next four years. One of the bones of contention of late between the traders and the government was the tax on banking transactions, but the reports fail to clarify whether and when the offending measure will be reversed. In the meantime, while the PM argued that tax rates should be brought down to encourage people to file their income tax returns, he also instructed the FBR chairman not to pressurise any person unjustifiably and treat taxpayers with respect. To give legislative teeth to the proposed tax amnesty, the government has tabled the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2016 in the National Assembly (NA) and suddenly extended the session of the NA in order to get the Bill passed immediately. The hasty manner in which the NA session has been extended has surprised many parliamentarians. Perhaps the government’s anxiety and hurry is traceable to International Monetary Fund (IMF) pressure to take steps to widen the tax base, a conditionality of the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility programme. The Bill envisages allowing businessmen to whiten their undeclared profits by paying a nominal amount of tax. This four-year tax amnesty scheme will apply to both filers and non-filers (defined as those who have not filed a return for the last 10 years). It will not apply to parliamentarians, persons convicted on narcotics, terrorism and money laundering charges. The measures proposed are expected to add about two million new taxpayers to the exceedingly narrow existing tax base of some one million taxpayers out of a population of around 200 million. Up to Rs 50 million undeclared working capital can be whitened by paying one percent tax on the declared working capital in tax year 2015. For tax year 2016, traders would have to declare turnover showing at least three times the working capital declared for tax year 2015. For tax years 2017 and 2018, they would have to declare turnover on which the tax paid is at least 25 percent more than the preceding year. Another option offered is for traders to pay turnover tax for the next three years. Different tax slabs have been proposed for tax years 2015, 2016 and 2017. All businessmen taking advantage of the amnesty scheme will be exempt from audit and any questions about the source of their income for four years. However, the Bill excludes whitening real estate, vehicles, shops and non-business assets. The conditionalities of the IMF programme aside, the government desperately needs to boost its revenues. One of its traditional milk cows, i.e. taxes on POL, has suffered a reduction because of low international prices. To make up the shortfall, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had recently imposed additional customs duties on what he called luxury imports, but contrary to his assertions, this fresh indirect taxation or mini-budget as it has been dubbed, has fuelled a spike in inflation. The amnesty scheme therefore represents the midnight oil the finance ministry gnomes have been burning ever since to find ways and means to increase tax revenue and keep the IMF happy. This is not the first time such a tax amnesty has been offered to businessmen, especially traders. However, if the past is any guide, these schemes failed to live up to expectations. Whether this one will fare better only time will tell. There is however one factor that may make the current amnesty scheme’s prospects better than its predecessors. A pro-business government is in power that has seemingly persuaded the business community to bail it out of its revenue collection difficulties by whitening its undeclared income through concessional tax rates. Appeals to patriotism notwithstanding, the bazaar has not been known for a responsible taxpaying culture in the past, if anything quite the contrary. Whether it and the wider business community will step up to the plate in these dire times is the sixty four thousand dollar question that may make or break the government’s ambitions and aspirations regarding a kevel of revenues that can keep the IMF quiet and cooperative while helping finance the revenue and development budgets of the country.

Daily Times Editorial Jan 2, 2016

Brave new world? As the world rang in the New Year and tolled out the old one, the global landscape betrayed the mixed bag of anxieties and hopes that characterise today’s situation. In many western and Asian cities, the celebrations were dampened by fear or actual threats of terrorism, leading many capitals to cancel the traditional fireworks and large gatherings. In other, less stressed countries, the celebrations and pyrotechnics went ahead undeterred. In the backdrop lurked the realisation of Islamic State’s (IS’s) open and declared intent to bring the ‘war’ to its enemies’ homelands (witness the Paris massacre). At home, Pakistanis, particularly youth frustrated with the lack of options for entertainment, once again took over the roads in cities and ‘celebrated’ in their usual ‘yahoo’ style. The authorities tried to cope but were unable to do much to dent one-wheelies, loud music and massive traffic jams. If only we could find some healthier ways for our young to enjoy themselves on such occasions without making a nuisance of themselves. Meanwhile the IS presence in Pakistan has reasserted itself in debate after families in Lahore (including women and children) were discovered after the event of having travelled surreptitiously to Syria to join the IS campaign of setting up a ‘caliphate’ enjoying a hold over vast territory. Recent developments on the battlefield in Iraq and Syria however offer hope that their governments, with the support, open and honest or tacit and hesitant, of the world powers, may be on the verge of turning the tide on IS and other terrorist outfits. The problem, whether on the battle fronts or on the planned negotiations for a political settlement in Syria, is the definition of who can be described as a terrorist. Lack of agreement on this fundamental definition is the biggest roadblock in the creation of a critically required global anti-terrorist architecture to bring to bear the will and resources of the world against the threat. Back home, the authorities have finally to get their head out of the sand in denying any presence of IS in Pakistan and get down to the more important task of ensuring IS does not get traction here through the agency of older existing terrorist groups on our soil. No doubt the interior ministry can point to quite impressive statistics of its actions against terrorism during 2015, including killing 637 terrorists in 1,113 incidents and arresting another 710. To some, these may appear relatively puny numbers, but they reflect the nature of the enemy and the fight against him. Inherently, as far as both counterinsurgency (Operation Zarb-e-Azb) and counterterrorism (the National Action Plan or NAP) are concerned, it is less likely that we will see spectacular numbers in one go of the enemy eliminated but rather a slow, steady accumulation of the blows struck and the results obtained. An enemy operating in small groups, whether as guerrillas in FATA and elsewhere or as cells in the cities, requires patient intelligence-driven operations to degrade, disassemble and eliminate the threat. An interesting aspect of the fight and the difficulties that attend it is the report that a perusal by the authorities of around 200 seminaries’ bank accounts has yielded so little as to be described as a molehill rather than a mountain. After this fruitless exercise (which some informed observers could have pointed to long before it even started), attention is now being diverted to non-banking, informal channels of financing the seminaries such as hundi and hawala or other means to finance the activities of these madrassas. In the first place, identifying and then cutting off funds being employed to facilitate terrorism is a complex, multi-layered task. In the second place, any madrassa involved in suspicious activities is hardly likely to ‘advertise’ the source of its funding through the banks. Back to the drawing board on this one then. There is little doubt that casting an eye on the trajectory of the struggle against terrorism from say 2008 to 2015 indicates the distance travelled along the road of progress. Operation Zarb-e-Azb was launched in June 2014 in response to the terrorist attack on Karachi airport at the very moment the government, with the all parties consensus behind it, was attempting to negotiate with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). It is the TTP that disabused everyone of the notion of talking them out of their dastardly course and woke up the hitherto sleeping giant of the military to take the terrorists head on in North Waziristan (the reference is to the procrastination of past military top brass in grasping this nettle firmly). The expected terrorist retaliation by the TTP and other terrorist groups for their loss of long standing safe havens and bases in FATA did not arrive immediately, which may have induced some complacency. However, the terrorists sent a rude reminder by massacring children and teachers in the APS incident in December 2014, finally stirring the authorities to formulate the NAP. Discontents with the long delays in implementing all the 20 points of NAP notwithstanding, there can be no gainsaying the fact that 2015 proved a turning point in mobilising opinion across the board against the terrorists and silencing their vocal and hidden sympathisers. Looking back, that will stand out as the greatest gain of the year past.

Daily Times Editorial Dec 28, 2015

BB remembered Another December 27 has come and gone but the serious introspection the occasion should have persuaded the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) to conduct remains conspicuous by its absence even on Benazir Bhutto's eighth death anniversary. To recall, that was the day in 2007, mere months after BB returned from an eight year self-imposed exile to escape the extreme harassment of the PML-N government at that time, that Pakistan's premier political leader was cut down by the hand of assassins who have still to be brought to justice. Suspicions still linger regarding the manner in which forensic evidence was destroyed soon after the assassination by hosing down the site. Since her widower Asif Zardari did not allow a postmortem, even the cause of death was put into doubt, with General Musharraf's regime making absurd claims of her death being an accident when she hit her head against her car's roof handle, etc. Even today, when recalling the horrible tragic details of that day, it beggars imagination that despite the PPP being in power for a full term from 2008 to 2013, the investigation (including an inconclusive one by Scotland Yard) and prosecution of the case leaves much to be desired, particularly since justice is still awaited. On the present run of the way the case has meandered along without a satisfactory and credible conclusion, the apprehension cannot be easily dismissed that it may end up like all the high profile political assassinations in our history: lost in time and translation. The PPP's commemoration of her death anniversary has spiralled downwards over the years to ritualised and predictable respect, with little thought despite the rhetoric, of whether the party still upholds her legacy. Survival in office or even in opposition seems to have emerged as the leit motif of the party under Asif Ali Zardari's stewardship. What is perhaps not realised by the party leadership despite the transition in progress to the next generation of Bhuttos/Zardaris is that this 'minimalist' approach has hollowed out the once widespread appeal of the party (an incremental process over the years). The turn, from the time BB returned from her first exile in 1986, towards an explicit and implicit acceptance of the neo-liberal paradigm that had overtaken the world alienated the traditional mass base of the PPP. This base included the working class, peasantry, students, intelligentsia and women. Today, this list cannot be taken for granted. The collapse therefore of the major left of centre party on Pakistan's political firmament has left progressive democratic politics in limbo. The worst reflection of this loss is the PPP's virtual marginalisation in Punjab, once the main bastion of the once radical PPP. This year, reports speak of the failure of the Punjab PPP to even organise a delegation to attend BB's death anniversary commemoration in Garhi Khuda Bux. How the mighty have fallen. The hopes of the PPP's rank and file now reside in the person of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. The young leader though still has a long way to go before he can turn the tide for the party. His speech at BB's remembrance rally had little new or inspiring, even though he wittily dubbed the National Action Plan that has become a bone of contention over the Rangers issue between the federal and Sindh governments as the 'Noon' Action Plan. If Bilawal is to succeed in once again forging the PPP, a pale shadow of its former self, into an effective and inspiring party capable of once again mobilising the masses, he and the party's leadership will have to go back to the drawing board and reinvent themselves through a well thought through political programme. Going on tolling the bell just because one is a monk will no longer do. The PPP needs rethinking, introspection and a fresh visit to its aims and objectives to align them with the people's aspirations, otherwise we may still be here in future years ritually commemorating BB's martyrdom without much hope of the PPP's message finding resonance with the people. That would be a sad epitaph for her legacy.

Daily Times Editorial Dec 27, 2015

Blowing hot and cold As expected, after former chief minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch submitted his resignation, leader of the major party in the Balochistan coalition Nawab Sanaullah Zehri took oath of office as his successor under the Murree Accord and in line with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s nomination of the PML-N heavyweight. Also, the Balochistan Assembly unanimously elected Rahila Hameed Durrani as the first woman Speaker some months after former Speaker Jan Jamali resigned over differences with his PML-N party leadership. After taking oath and receiving a unanimous vote of confidence from all 54 members of the Balochistan Assembly, Zehri addressed some of the concerns and problems of his province. The nationalist insurgency still commanding, despite setbacks in recent months, centre-stage in the affairs of Balochistan, the new chief minister offered on the one hand a dialogue for political reconciliation in the province, of course within the bounds of the law and constitution. On the other, citing his elevation to be the result of the sacrifices of the martyrs belonging to the army, Frontier Corps, police, Levies and citizens, he vowed not to forgive those responsible for such deaths. This is a strange cocktail. How can a ‘dialogue for reconciliation’ proceed without a general amnesty for all those engaged in the fighting of the last almost 14 years? Mixed messages such as these will do little to persuade the rebels in the mountains or their leaders in self-imposed exile that the Balochistan government is a credible partner to engage with for peace and reconciliation. As it is, the rebels see the Balochistan government, whether the previous one of Dr Abdul Malik Baloch or the incoming one, as powerless in matters affecting the province’s insurgency. With his opening salvo, Zehri may effectively have closed the door on any hope of a dialogue. As positions harden consequently, the relatively low intensity insurgency could find a new and more deadly lease of life. Wisdom demanded that the new chief minister open his innings with words that transcended his image as being tough on the insurgents and could soothe and act as a balm on the wounds of the people of Balochistan as well as the nationalist insurgents. However, that was not to be, and we must wait with bated breath what the effect on the troubled province may be. One positive in the chief minister’s early message was the commitment to ensuring protection for the life and property of the Hazaras, a community hard done by at the hands of the sectarian Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in recent years. As to his other pronouncements on the province’s problems such as water scarcity, education, health and unemployment, Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri had sweet things to say regarding better days to come under his stewardship in all these areas. He also mooted solving the problems of poverty and deprivation of the people of the province though development in industry, etc, to accompany the implementation of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), particularly major industrial zones to be set up on the CPEC route in Zhob and Khuzdar, and smaller zones in other areas. Judgement on these matters must necessarily await their practical implementation. The political class of Balochistan, as represented in the Assembly, congratulated itself on the election of a woman for the first time as the Speaker by arguing this showed the respect women were held in in Balochistan’s society. Tokenism or not, such steps do send a strong message, but neither in Balochistan’s still predominantly tribal culture, nor the much touted election of women Speakers in the National Assembly during the last government, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or Sindh in the present dispensation, should such advances in women’s status blind us to the very real and widespread violations of women's rights and their status as second class citizens throughout our society. Before congratulations are due, these women Speakers and their sisters should know that there is still a long way to go and their election should only act as a spur to pursue their goals with greater vigour. Nawab Sanaullah Zehri has his work cut out for him in terms of giving his province peace, development and prosperity. While wishing him success, we can only advise that he revisit his rhetoric on the insurgency and find appropriate messages that advance reconciliation and peace, not continued conflict.