Iraq’s agony

WHETHER or not Moqtada al-Sadr sticks to his decision to suspend his militia’s operation for six months, Iraq seems to be sinking deeper and deeper into the bog. The radical leader is now feeling a sense of guilt about the shootout with the security forces in Karbala on Monday, that left at least 25 dead the first day. There were more deaths subsequently. Even though he has denied his army’s involvement in the clash, many observers believe al-Sadr is now trying to distance himself from Iran. His control over of the Army of Mahdi, which he formed after the fall of the Baathist regime, seems to be weakening and many of its factions have been involved in sectarian violence. Astonishing as it sounds, a spokesman for the Army of Mahdi said the militia would also stop attacking Iraq’s “occupiers”. This is a very subtle signal to the Americans, who have been worried over Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad’s statement that his country would fill the vacuum in Iraq in the wake of America’s withdrawal.

More than four years after the fall of the Baathist regime, America is nowhere near achieving the purported aims for which the war was launched. The aim was to give peace and freedom to Iraq; neither is available to the Iraqis. Under Saddam Hussein, whatever the barbaric nature of his rule, Iraq did not have sectarian violence. Since the fall of Baghdad in April 2003, sectarian and ethnic violence combined with the resistance to the occupation have made 4.2 million Iraqis homeless. As for the dead, the figure varies between a minimum of 200,000 to a maximum of 600,000. The death of 250 people in a single day during the attack on a town in Nineveh earlier this month testifies to the break-down of law and order that has come in the wake of the American inflicted war in Iraq. It has given the militants the freedom to attack whenever and wherever they want.

The Baghdad government has lost the confidence of the people because it has failed to perform the foremost duty of a government — to maintain law and order. The slaughter in Iraq will continue unless there is a phased induction of UN peacekeepers to coincide with the withdrawal of the coalition forces. Even then one cannot be certain that peace will return to this unfortunate country. The Maliki government lacks a moral high ground because the elections that brought him to power were held under the umbrella of the US-led forces. Apart from these domestic problems that are serious enough, the Iraq war has spawned an international crisis of a new kind. Iran’s growing ascendancy in the region and America’s angry response have destabilised the Gulf. This is something the world could have done without.

How violence affects children

THE tragic incident of a young boy in Karachi accidentally shooting to death his seven-year-old friend during Shab-i-Baraat festivities on Wednesday should serve as an eye-opener to all those who accept violence as a matter of course and do nothing to curb it. Little thought is given to the deep imprints that constant exposure to violence leaves on the vulnerable minds of children, who, as they grow older, become desensitised to its devastating effects. Violence has come to manifest itself in every form — not only in acts of crime and militancy. Wars are glorified in our textbooks, and patriotic songs extol the valour of soldiers who die for the motherland. Even our streets are festooned with symbols of conflict, such as planes and missiles. The electronic media is perhaps the biggest culprit in perpetuating images of violence, death and destruction. This encourages children to re-enact scenes of violence, as many did after watching former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s hanging on TV last year, with fatal consequences. Toy weapons, too, are popular among young boys who like to emulate their ‘heroes’ on screen, while in certain areas like the NWFP, the display of guns is a cultural trademark. Meanwhile, children themselves are victims of the worst kind of corporal and verbal punishment in schools, madressahs and at home. All this makes for a society inured to violence.

Another worrying factor is the open display of and easy access to firearms. Large-scale violation of firearm laws has led to a situation where the country is flooded with illegal guns. Even where they are licensed, as in the incident mentioned above, they are carelessly situated, making it easy for children to pick them up. It is admittedly not easy to protect our children from images of violence — although it would help if channels warned their viewers beforehand of a particular programme containing gory images. But much can be done to prevent them from getting their hands on weapons by beefing up gun licensing procedures and cracking down on owners and dealers of illegal arms. Moreover, textbooks can be amended so that, instead of glorifying war, they project conflict as simply a historical fact. Child protection laws can also be strengthened to halt the abuse of children and to punish those who indulge in it. Such steps will heighten awareness and will cause parents and teachers to do all they can to protect children from the pernicious effects of violence.

Disaster in the making

A REPORT published in this paper on Thursday highlights the deplorable state of the Karachi fire department. Although the city has grown rapidly in the last decade, the number of tenders at the department’s disposal has plummeted from 74 in 1995-96 to just about 20 today. Of these, roughly half are out of order. Vehicles that have been put out of commission due to mechanical or electrical faults, however minor, are then cannibalised for parts and accessories needed for tenders still in service. This process continues until the inactive tender has been stripped down to the chassis and is fit only to be sold as scrap. Yet the department is billed for replacement parts even though they have been removed from another vehicle. No maintenance records are kept and the state-of-the-art equipment that came with the tenders in 1995-96 have disappeared without a trace. No one, it seems, has received adequate training in the use of the snorkels acquired recently by the fire department, a critical shortcoming that became all too apparent during the inferno — the second in six months — that engulfed the PNSC building on August 19. The litany of woes doesn’t end there. At least 100 of the fire brigade’s 945 staffers are said to be working in other city government departments while drawing the salaries and benefits meant for firefighters who risk their lives in the line of duty. Others with political connections don’t even bother showing up for work. All this is in a department for which the city council recently approved the hiring of 370 additional staff members.

This is a shocking and wholly unacceptable state of affairs. A mere ten tenders currently cater to a city of almost 15 million. The department is ostensibly understaffed while its firefighters are poorly trained and lack essential equipment. Matters are made worse by the fact that many government buildings — including hospitals — do not meet modern fire-safety standards and little effort is made to ensure that new structures come equipped with serviceable emergency exits. Such gross negligence is unpardonable and remedial measures must be initiated forthwith if a major disaster is to be averted.

Friday feature: Divine scheme and human conduct

THE Quran proclaims, “God has created everything by measure” (Sura 54, Ayat 49). Thus, adhocism in the matter of Creation is ruled out – be it the formation of planets in the sky or formation of the earth, the abode of God’s best of creations – the human kind.

In regard to the former, the Quran says: “The sun runs on towards a resting-place determined for it by the Almighty, while for the moon its varying stages of appearance have also been fixed (36:38-39).” As for the formation of the earth, the Quran informs us that “God placed in it, at the very time of its formation, its assessed sustenance” (41:10).

These excerpts from the Divine text lead to the belief that whatever has happened or continues to happen, or is likely to happen in the world conforms entirely to the Divine scheme of things based on the Almighty’s unlimited and unrestrained knowledge about the future and the decisions arrived at by Him in the light of these, perhaps, on the very dawn of Creation. In short, everything is pre-destined. In other words, happenings in the entire universe, including the lives of human beings on earth, are taking place like a pre-recorded computer programme which are commonly called “the laws of nature.”

According to this interpretation of pre-destination, or Taqdeer, all the ups and downs and vicissitudes in the lives of human beings – their fluctuating fortunes, their physical fitness and illness, and so on – visit them with God’s knowledge and consent. This is how the Quran puts it: “No calamity befalls except by God’s leave, who is knower of all things” (64:11). So much so that “no female conceives and gives birth to off spring but with his knowledge and no one grows old and no one’s life-span is reduced but is recorded in a Book; this being quite easy for God” (35:11).

This particular theme has been elaborated further (in Sura 57 Ayat 22-23) thus: “No disaster befalls in the earth, or in your own lives, but it is already recorded in a Book this being an easy thing for God.” The same verse explains further that, as all things are pre-recorded, “human beings should neither grieve the passing away of some one nor exult because of that which has been left in one’s possession.”

It was because of their firm faith in pre-destination that the Prophet’s close companions prostrated and kissed the ground in humility whenever they achieved success of any kind in their campaigns in the cause of the faith and never lost hope in the face of failures. Ordinarily, we exult over even an ordinary success in life and feel proud on achieving the desired target and lose heart and because demoralised when faced with failure, but the ‘companions’ were, no doubt human beings, like any one of us; and they knew their personal capabilities like every one else, yet they never discounted the factor of Taqdeer, which is another word for the will of God.

Those who are free-thinkers or downright atheists remain atheists as long as lady luck smiles on them, but once they face a down-turn in fortune or an unexpected disaster in their lives and find all doors closed on them, they kiss the earth, and pray to the unseen God, most earnestly, to extricate them from their predicament and, no wonder, the Kindest and the Most Beneficent Being relents.

The holy Prophet is reported to have said to the ‘companions’ that each one of them should keep on doing whatever they had been doing, because whereas doing one’s job is one’s bounden duty, the reward for one’s performance depended upon God’s will, or, in other words, on pre-destined ‘Taqdeer’. He referred to verses 4 to 13 of Sura 92 which are reproduced here: “your effort is dispersed towards various ends; and as for him who gives (for God’s sake) and is dutiful and believes in goodness, will find himself in a state of ease; but for him who hoards and considers himself independent and disbelieves in goodness will find himself in adversity, his riches being of no help when he will be driven to adversity.”

So, this is how the Quran throws light on the tangled issue of “free will and pre-destination.” It suggests that while, it is God’s prerogative, shared by none else, to determine man’s unalterable destiny, it is for the humans to keep performing their assigned tasks and duties in the world. This is evident from what the Quran says:” Those who strive and work hard for God’s pleasure are guided to the proper path as God is with the noble souls.” (29: 69)

To conclude, it is evident that it is a person’s own performance in life that determines his, or her, fate irrespective of the fact that God is aware of it in advance. But this advance knowledge, in no way, influences the actions and deeds of the human beings in their worldly lives.

A class teacher may be having a fairly good idea of which student is likely to pass with distinction and which are those who will fail. But this advance knowledge on his part does, in no way, affect the individual performance of each student in his class.

Package of reforms

IRONICALLY, the JVP was one party (the Sri Lanka Freedom Party or SLFP the other) that burnt buses and electricity pylons in 1987 when the provincial councils were introduced.

Today, sitting in those very same councils, they don’t seem in any particular urgency to abolish them — even though they are in a position to do so.

The UNP’s position is utterly vague. It says that that the province must be the unit of devolution and that if the district is chosen as the unit of devolution it would be difficult to maintain uniformity in development.

On the other hand, it says, if there is a district that needs special attention, the respective province should address the issues of that district.

The provincial councils have proved to be a dead loss administratively and a white elephant financially. And in the areas for which they were meant, i.e. the north and east, they do not even function.

District-level devolution can be re-introduced purely as an administrative exercise — and for good governance — not embroiled in the murky ‘ethnic conflict’. Whether the separatist elements really want any form of devolution is also debatable.

There is a need, too, to review administrative reforms that will be of real value to the ordinary people.

These must include not just carving out boundaries but providing better infrastructure like highways linking the different districts, better transport and telecom services that make Sri Lanka a more efficient and less costly place to live in and work, for ordinary people.

Back in 1994, the then newly elected president and her constitutional affairs minister said that the executive presidency will be abolished on the 15th of July, 1995.

This was to be introduced through a ‘package’ of constitutional reforms. When asked why its abolition must be linked to a whole package, the answer was that no piecemeal measures must be adopted.

The country is still waiting for this ‘package’. Why doesn’t the government, at least, pick out the bits and pieces it can implement, and implement them for the greater good of the people it represents? — Aug 26

The cup that cheers

TEA will be the talk of the town as the Colombo International Tea Convention gets underway from today. Introduced to Sri Lanka 140 years ago, tea has become Sri Lanka’s best known export. Sri Lankan teas are consumed around the world.

But the tea industry cannot rest on its laurels. Constant innovation and change are required for its success. Ceylon Tea, perhaps Lanka’s best-known trademark, must face the challenges posed by the traditional competitors such as India and Kenya and emerging tea exporters.

Sri Lanka is known primarily as a black tea producer. But the world is increasingly turning to unorthodox teas. Flavoured teas, iced teas and green teas are in high demand by connoisseurs the world over. It is heartening to see that Lankan tea companies are now catering to this Value Added Tea market as well, while giving prominence to black tea.

However, this convention is not only about the future of Lanka’s tea industry — it is also about the “sustainabiliTea” of the global tea industry.

The focus will be on good agricultural practices, emerging global standards, corporate social responsibility, innovation and the value chain.

All these are pertinent issues in a globalised world.

Consumers are demanding food and beverage products which conform to the highest hygienic and environmental standards. Organic foods grown without using artificial fertiliser/insecticides are sought by discerning buyers.

Innovation is another key factor and the industry must come out with new products to win over more consumers. This is vital in the context of the aggressive nature of the coffee growers’ campaign.

More opportunities must be given at global tea forums to our smallholders and small-scale tea factory owners, responsible for nearly 60 per cent of the output.

They can gain more insights to the industry by interacting with renowned tea professionals. This will hopefully enable them to increase the quality of their products further and gain recognition in the international market.

That brings us to the question of the stepmotherly treatment given to local tea drinkers. Sri Lankan consumers are forced to drink dust/refuse tea marketed under well known brand names. While there is no question about the priority accorded to the export market, it is time that the local consumer too is given a good example of the cup that cheers. — Aug 28