An indictment

THE State Bank’s latest report on the economy is nothing but an indictment of the previous government of the PML-Q and its successor and extension, that is, the caretaker administration. The report underscores two basic issues. One, it reflects poorly on the imprudent economic management at a time when the rapidly rising global oil and commodity markets and political instability at home threatened it. Two, it accuses the previous rulers of having cheated the people by understating the growing gap between income and spending. As the global crude prices spiked, the previous rulers avoided increasing domestic petrol prices for obvious political reasons. The subsidy given to hold down the domestic oil prices caused the fiscal deficit to balloon enormously. Meanwhile, the current account gap also expanded to $8.4bn due to the rising trade deficit owing to the galloping import bill — thanks to international oil and commodity prices — and stagnating exports. Political instability, increasing cost of production, energy shortages, lawlessness and economic uncertainties slowed down large-scale manufacturing. Most summer crops also underperformed and massive flour scarcity forced the government to import wheat. Foreign exchange reserves have been depleting. The rupee is under pressure and the SBP has revised downwards the growth forecast from the target of 7.2 per cent to six per cent. Obsessed with the ‘feel good’ growth numbers, the previous government borrowed excessively to the tune of Rs359bn during July-March. This extravagance is shocking if one recalls that the total borrowing last fiscal was below Rs26 billion.

The growing fiscal imbalances and a warning from the SBP failed to budge the government into action and stagger the burden of global oil prices on to the consumers until March — when the prices were raised by around 16 per cent in 15 days — in less than two weeks after the electoral rout of the former ruling party. It also rejected criticism as the opposition’s propaganda. And now we have the SBP charging, albeit belatedly, the former rulers of economic adhocism and deception. We expect the new government, which has announced some austerity measures to reduce official expenditure, to take a cue from the report. While the new coalition is required to cut unproductive spending, it is expected to pursue farsighted and prudent policies to put the economy back on track. At the same time it should remember that the austerity drives in the past did not take long to fizzle out. No economy thrives on austerity. No society prospers unless it develops the ability and capacity to produce — both food and manufactured goods. That is the area on which the new rulers would have to concentrate in the weeks and months to come.

Fata’s medievalism

THE stoning to death — the first incident of its kind in the Fata region — of a man and a woman accused of adultery fills one with unspeakable horror. The sheer barbarity of the punishment aside, it is clear that the local Taliban want to demonstrate to the new government that they will not tolerate any attempt to dilute their hold in the region. Neither will they be swayed by the promise of a democratic form of governance if this is designed to undermine their moral authority in any way. This is particularly disturbing because the militants had earlier welcomed Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s willingness to hold talks with them. It is incumbent on the new government to strongly condemn this incident, hold an enquiry into it and arrest those responsible for ordering and carrying out the execution, the circumstances behind which remain far from clear-cut. Such instances of summary justice were disregarded by the previous government, many of whose members actually gave their tacit approval to the dehumanising punishments being meted out.

In fact, the incident once again highlights the flaws of the jirga system and the need for Fata to be brought into the political mainstream and to have institutions that are the hallmark of a civilised society. In this regard, one can question NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Hoti’s words of praise for the jirga system recently. True, he approved of its perceived merits more in the context of ensuring peace in an unstable region. But in a shrinking world and changing society, the success of such a mechanism for resolving disputes and administering justice is temporary and limited in scope. If and when the promised social and economic development comes to Fata, there will, hopefully, be increasing realisation among its people that political freedom is the right of every individual. The laws of the land are meant to guard individual liberties which should not be in the hands of a selected few jirga members to bestow or take away. It is keeping this view in mind that the present dispensation should introduce reforms in Fata that are grounded in the reality of global and national political systems. It is in the same spirit that it should strive to rescue the region from the clutches of the militants whose medieval mindset is keeping it from progress.

Ten years too late

PAKISTAN Cricket Board’s decision to finally adopt a hard line on controversial speedster Shoaib Akhtar has come ten years too late. A bowler of exceptional talent and pace, Shoaib has been the enfant terrible of Pakistan cricket since his debut almost a decade ago. Time and again he has tainted the game’s image by featuring in a blizzard of shameful scandals, ranging from a ball-tampering row, cases of taking banned drugs and hitting fellow players to flouting the basic rules of the game. Considering that cricket has forever been ranked a gentleman’s game, Shoaib Akhtar has gotten away with murder, so to speak.

The questions to be asked are: why had he been allowed to get way with all this indiscipline in the first place? Who is to be made accountable for the monster that Shoaib is made out to be by the PCB? It is no surprise that rather than drawing accolades for imposing the long overdue penalty on the maverick pacer, the PCB finds itself in the firing line after announcing the ban, a ridiculously lengthy one by all counts. It is, indeed, regrettable that the board officials are not prepared to concede that this Frankenstein is in fact a creation of their own folly. Rules, guidelines and canons of bad behaviour from Shoaib have largely been ignored by the cricketing bigwigs in the past, simply because it has not suited them to put a leash on the paceman and also because they have been a toothless bunch themselves, having practised double standards so blatantly over the years. Every so often, the PCB issues statements saying they have reminded the player(s) of ethics and discipline, threatening to review their contracts if they fail to adhere to the code of conduct. But after countless show cause notices, warnings and penalties — most of which have been withdrawn within a week of their issuance — Shoaib and others like him of the blundering brigade have been allowed to carry on as before.

Cosmetic tinkering on the issue of indiscipline is not sufficient to overcome the root cause. Ideally, the PCB should be grooming the players for techniques, temperaments, concentration and experience rather than granting them the status of immortality one minute and notoriety the next. Rules are not rules if they apply to most and not to all. So much has been said in letter about discipline by the PCB top guns, it is time they practised it in spirit.

Truth about the Pata Regulation

WHILE discussing the announcement of the newly elected prime minister in the National Assembly with reference to Fata, an analyst had remarked: “What happened in the provincially administered Malakand region following the Supreme Court verdict [in 1994] declaring the Pata Regulation ultra vires of the constitution is now for all to see.

“The decision created a legal vacuum in Malakand and led to an armed rebellion by the Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Mohammadi calling for the enforcement of Shariat to replace the defunct Pata Regulation….”

The Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (Pata) Regulation needs to be seen in its proper perspective. It is, moreover, of immense importance to look at the issues against the backdrop of the ever-changing social structure of the areas under consideration. Malakand division, in the north-west of Pakistan, consists of districts Swat, Lower Dir, Upper Dir, Buner and Chitral. All these districts were princely states until the 1960s.

The state of Swat was merged with Pakistan in 1969, and all regular laws were extended to Swat immediately afterwards. All relevant courts and the legal system were functioning properly until 1974. But in 1975, the federal government introduced the Pata Regulation, eclipsing the regular laws then in force in the region.

The Pata Regulation was a weird combination of authoritarianism, ignorance of the changing social structure of the Swat valley, and conventions framed to appease the local elite. Judicial authority in Pata was transferred from the regular courts to the deputy commissioners of the districts in Malakand division. A jirga, consisting of local notables, would decide cases of conflict among the people of the area under the supervision of a tehsildar (the revenue officer).

The jirga members would be selected from the existing landed gentry, and the clergy of the area would give sanction to the decisions taken by the jirga. Any appeal against the jirga’s decision would be made to the deputy commissioner and the NWFP home secretary.

Revenue, judicial and executive powers were thus merged in a single individual — the deputy commissioner of the district — irrespective of the socio-political and economic dynamics that were fast changing the very fabric of society in the valley. Under the Pata Regulation, the timber mafia was ruthlessly engaged in depleting the natural resources of the valley in connivance with the district administration and the jirga members. The educated middle class was getting bulkier with the passing of each day. Lawyers, teachers, doctors, businessmen and activists had started making an impact on society in the valley.

Several NGOs took up projects that created public awareness of human rights and the environment. Moreover, political parties such as the Pakistan People’s Party, Awami National Party, Pakistan Muslim League, Jamaat-i-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam also developed their constituencies in the Swat valley, including Buner, Dir and Chitral.

While the educated middle classes and socio-political activists were busy with their awareness programme in the Swat valley, lawyers in the late 1980s submitted a petition in the Peshawar High Court pleading for the abolition of the Pata Regulation. The Peshawar High Court gave its verdict in Feb 1990 in favour of the petition. The federal government then appealed in the Supreme Court which ruled four years later that the Pata Regulation was unconstitutional.

Another significant development in Malakand division at the time was Maulana Sufi Mohammad’s defection from the Jamaat-i-Islami. He became a member of Dir’s district council and also ran a madressah in Balambat Dir. Both the traditional elite and the provincial bureaucracy were keen to retain their absolute power in Malakand division. This was in the early nineties when the power of the Taliban was expanding in Afghanistan with the help of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Deobandi madressahs were sending over manpower to help the Taliban in Afghanistan and the renewed zeal of the clergy in NWFP was making an impact on the length and breadth of the Pashtun belt.

The Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Mohammadi (TNSM) was active in Dir, Buner, Malakand and Swat even before the Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled on the federal government’s petition against the verdict of the Peshawar High Court. It is now a well-known fact that a deputy commissioner of Lower Dir remained in close contact with Maulana Sufi Mohammad. The maulana established and strengthened his organisation with the help of the local administration and area notables.

By the time the Supreme Court declared the Pata regulation to be ultra vires, the TNSM had become so powerful that it brought the entire Malakand administration to a standstill in 1994, demanding the imposition of Sharia in the Swat valley and other districts in the division.

According to Sher Mohammad, a prominent lawyer from Swat, instead of extending the regular laws that had been eclipsed due to the introduction of the Pata Regulation, the provincial government recommended the introduction of the Sharia Nizam-i-Adl Ordinance in 1994, acquiescing to the demagogic antics of the TNSM and compounding the confusion created by the provincial bureaucracy. The said ordinance made it compulsory for the civil courts to ask for the assistance of a Muawin Qazi and Aalim Wakil. The advice of the cleric, however, was not binding on the civil courts.

The TNSM objected to this arrangement and the federal government promulgated the Sharia Nizam-i-Adl Regulation 1999, thereby increasing the clerics’ influence in the courts. As if this were not enough, the caretaker provincial government recently proposed the ill-advised Sharia Nizam-i-Adl Regulation 2008 that would make the courts subservient to the clerics while the revenue and executive authority would be exercised by the local administration.

It was not the vacuum created by the Supreme Court decision on the Pata Regulation but the collusion of the administration with Maulana Sufi Mohammad that wreaked havoc in Malakand division. The political administration of the time gave a free hand to Maulana Sufi to help him regain the power he had lost through the Supreme Court decision.

However, when the administration came to realise what was happening, it moved to curb Maulana Sufi’s power and, in the process, hundreds of innocent lives were lost in Malakand division and Bajaur Agency.

The writer is a political analyst based in Islamabad.

khadim.2005@gmail.com

OTHER VOICES - Middle East Press

Fooling ourselves

Haaretz

HAD Peace Now not published reports from time to time, it is doubtful anyone would have been aware of the continuing construction in the settlements. One might have assumed from the declarations by Ehud Olmert’s government that construction had been suspended and that efforts were being made to reach a peace agreement to include withdrawal from most of the West Bank. From the complaints by the settlers’ leadership as well, one might have concluded that there was a freeze on building.

The dynamic of deception is continuing. Deception of the Americans, deception of the voters for parties that etched peace on their standard, deception of the Palestinians and above all self-deception. Our top leaders have joined together on a course that has no objective. These include Defence Minister Ehud Barak, whose political path no one understands and which he himself is not bothering to clarify, the prime minister, who serves as a commentator on reality instead of shaping it, and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who is conducting negotiations on evacuation while the government is continuing to build…

It is difficult to understand the point of the High Court’s order to remove one mobile home at Har Bracha when the defence minister is approving the construction of 48 new homes in Ariel …

The provocative construction in the Arab neighbourhoods of Jerusalem is continuing full speed ahead, under the fraudulent heading of strengthening Jerusalem. Barak and Olmert are retreating from the line formulated as far back as 2000, to the effect that Arab Jerusalem will be for the Palestinians and Jewish Jerusalem for the Jews….

Israel is continuing to work against itself, against its future, against any chance for the existence of two nation-states side by side… — (April 1)

So far so good but …

Gulf News

THE announcement by the Dubai Property Group that 50,000 low-cost houses are going to be brought on to the market in coming years will doubtless be welcomed by everyone. Yet what hasn’t been determined is exactly what constitutes a low-cost house because what is low cost to one family may be exorbitant to another. Nor is it known where the low-cost units will be built, although the developers admit to having already built a sizeable housing project for rent in Al Quoz, although in view of recent events there the area may be less attractive.

Low-cost housing becomes less attractive if it entails long hours of commuting from work to home. Even with the proposed introduction of the Metro and an additional 1,600 or more public buses, the thought of adding a couple of hours or more on to a working day is less than appealing.

Although 50,000 low-cost houses may seem a lot, in comparison with the number of residents in Dubai now, and increasing every month, it is not. So other developers must step in and contribute to easing the burden on the middle-income and lower-income bracket workers. It was once said that anyone earning less than Dh15,000 a month would find it very difficult to live in Dubai.

However, what with spiralling rents and shortages of accommodation, this sum has become unrealistic and a figure nearer Dh20,000 would probably be more correct.

The divide between what must be earned to have a reasonable level of existence and what is actually received by the majority creates a divide in society which will in time fester like an open sore and create difficulties at a later day unless addressed. It must be remembered that the lower-paid workers are those who help oil the wheels of society. — (March 29)