Iraq: deeper into chaos

INSTEAD of looking up, things in Iraq seem to be getting worse. The death of 100 Iraqis in two days of clashes with US troops serves to highlight this fact. One of the clashes was in Mosul, which US occupation authorities had recently described as “a model of security” in the country. Mosul residents said the clash was between US soldiers and the demobilized troops of the former Iraqi army. These soldiers have not been getting their salaries since the Americans announced the disbanding of the Iraqi army on May 23. Their frustration is symptomatic of the mood now sweeping Iraq. The clashes were followed by the arrest of 74 Al Qaeda supporters — the first such major claim by the occupation authorities. Whether they really belong to Al Qaeda there is no way of knowing. For all practical purposes, there is censorship in Iraq, and the outside world is not getting a fuller picture of what is going on in the occupied land. All one can hope is that the Americans will not try to turn Iraq into another Palestine where the people will be forced to take recourse to suicide bombings to drive the occupiers out.

The delay in giving the country an interim set-up headed and manned by Iraqis is giving rise to serious concerns about America’s real motives. To most observers of the Iraqi scene — including some of America’s European allies — Washington appears in no hurry to return Iraq to Iraqis. What it is interested in is not only a monopolization of the country’s oil wealth but also redrawing the Middle East’s geopolitical map. The US wants to turn its military victory in Iraq into an opportunity for achieving some of its long-term strategic goals. These include the installation in Baghdad of a pliant regime which would recognize Israel. Once Iraq, one of the most important Arab countries in the Middle East, recognizes Israel, it would not be possible to stop the domino effect of other pro-American Arab regimes following suit. Should this happen, Israeli-American money and technology would be used effectively to create a new Middle East ruled by quislings. This would effectively place the Arab world under a new “mandate.”

The clashes show that the Iraqis are not going to watch their country’s humiliation for long. They might have welcomed the fall of the Baathist regime, but they would most certainly not like to change the local dictator for foreign masters. They want freedom, and they want to rule their country themselves. It is to this fundamental point that America should pay attention. No weapons of mass destruction have been discovered in Iraq. This has scuttled the moral basis of the war on Iraq. The only way America can now salvage the situation is by pulling out of Iraq at the earliest after handing over power to an interim Iraqi administration. Such a set-up should not be headed by a man of questionable credentials. An American military presence can be there during the period in which the interim administration should prepare for elections. An unnecessary prolongation of America’s military and political presence in Iraq will only mean continued chaos and violence — and more bodybags. Which is the last thing George Bush would want if he is to win a second term.

Budgetary reliefs

AMENDMENTS made to the federal budget 2003-04 and passed by the National Assembly on Friday should provide further encouragement to the housing and construction sector which the government is banking on to become the economy’s driving force. The import duty on dumper trucks will not be raised as proposed earlier, and that on bulldozers will be further reduced. This might also benefit those with large holdings of agricultural land. Furthermore, the finance minister also reversed an earlier decision to bring baby food into the sales tax net. While this reversal will not make any actual difference as far as the food budget for families is concerned, it will at least prevent the price of baby food from rising. A proposal to levy withholding tax on investments of Rs 150,000 or less in the National Savings Scheme (NSS) was also taken back by the government in an apparent attempt to provide some relief to small investors and savers.

One also hopes that the government’s promise to continue providing attractive returns on NSS certificates to pensioners and widows will be kept so that this vulnerable segment of the population can be protected against the continuous decline in interest rates. The other amendment to the budget, allowing medicines and medical equipment used to treat heart patients, is commendable and will make treatment of heart disease cheaper. However, the government should have also considered accepting the long-time demand of doctors and medical practitioners calling for all duties to be removed on the import of dialysis machines. The Senate has made some useful suggestions, including a scheme to allow concessional transport fares to senior citizens. One hopes all such recommendations for the benefit of the people, especially the poor and the vulnerable, will be duly considered by the government.

Water crisis — unending

PARTS of Karachi’s District West, along Mauripur Road, witnessed clashes between residents and the police on Friday. Riot police baton-charged and teargassed the protesters who burnt tyres, pelted stones and blockaded the road intermittently all day. The reason for the riot-like situation was Karachi’s perennial problem: shortage of water. In nearby Baldia Town — home to nearly a million low-income people — the situation was no different although residents there did not clash with the police. The entire area is afflicted with a faulty water supply system based on a sectorwise distribution in which KWSB provides water to each sector once every seven to ten days and that too only for a few hours. Residents spend the rest of the days queuing up for water provided through tankers managed by the rangers. Scarcity of the basic amenity is felt more acutely during the long and hot summer season occasionally leading to violent protests and riots like the ones witnessed on Friday.

Shortage of water in Karachi is not confined to low-income areas only. Parts of affluent DHA and Clifton have no water lines to start with, and where these do exist they go dry for days on end. On the flip side of things, there are pockets in the city which get round-the-clock water supply. There are two basic problems for this flawed distribution. One, the lines are old and rusty, because of which an estimated 150 million gallons of water is lost through leakages everyday, and two, a growing number of illegal water connections along the main lines which make it hard for water to reach the tail-enders. Any lasting solution will require proper planning and a complete revamping of the city’s water supply system.

This, given its many constraints, the Water and Sanitation Department is not capable of undertaking. It is time the inefficient body was transferred fully to the city district government whose elected members, being accountable to the public, have a better chance of resolving this long-standing problem.