Wargames: grand strategic review: COMMENT

WARGAMES — essentially strategic overviews — form a regular feature of military training at the higher command level. These are periodically held to re-evaluate, revise and update strategic/tactical doctrines to make little news unlike high-profile field exercises with men and war materials.

The ongoing Thabit Qadam II wargames make no exception to the rule except that these are the largest-ever, inter-service conclave being held in a war-like (graduating to a near-war) situation.

A BBC (radio) interviewer appeared to be not a little perturbed over the timing of the exercise and quite a bit wondering about the serial number Thabit Qadam II. Fielding his second question first, I said that the second in the series might not necessarily be statistically a follow-up to the first. The ongoing proceedings may well be the first of their kind, numbered two to achieve a mock element of surprise.

About his first query, my simple answer was that an abnormal situation such as the one persisting since the massive deployment of armed forces over half an year ago would more than justify any abnormal measures taken to reinforce one’s defences on paper and on the ground.

Thabit Qadam-II should, by no means, be mistaken for anything escalating war likelihood or hysteria. In fact, the selection of the time and the place both are commendable. If all the nine or 10 corps commanders could be called to Rawalpindi for a 10-day conclave, this should underscore a lesser degree of urgency and anxiety concerning their presence at their respective commands on a war footing.

As for the place, none could testify to its academic nature at the highest level of command than the selection of the National Defence College — armed forces’ apex centre of excellence.

Commanders, PSOs (principal staff officers) army, naval and air chiefs, chairman of joint chiefs gather under one roof as much as commanders as students of military history and science for a free and frank exchange of views. It is a sort of a ‘sabbatical’ in academic terms to give field commanders a break from their gruelling field duties at a war alert.

Furthermore, would it be conceivable in an abnormal situation even to allow our top commanders to get together under one roof at all? And that too for as long as 10 days? The rationale and the conduct of the wargames at a time like this could be hardly called into question. And all that free of cost in terms of the wear and tear involved unavoidably in actual troop movement, no matter how small.

As for the observations of army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf — who is also the president — on the opening day of Thabit Qadam II (Dawn, July 17), these were as they should have been: a word of cheer to armed forces and the nation. By the Grace of Almighty Allah, he said, the armed forces had the capacity to not only to defend ‘every inch of the motherland’ but also to strike a telling blow to anyone who dared to challenge the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.

The above needs to be real, more or less, while stating the mission of the forces under their command (defending ‘every inch of the motherland’ etc). The second part of his statement makes more substantive reading — closer to the spirit of the occasion. He appreciated the concept, setting and the layout of the wargames and hoped that commanders would make the best use of the conclusions drawn.

His reference to the country’s (conventional) deterrence capability was by far the most significant professionally. It is reassuring to see a growing shift from nuclear to conventional deterrence. War is bad business in any shape of form. In a nuclear dimension, no matter how limited, it’s horror of horrors, hard even to contemplate not to speak of actually braving it.

There is a good deal of comfort in the thought, therefore, that from both sides of the ‘thin red line’ there were more talk of using the conventional than resorting to the nuclear to fight a war. If repressed mutual animosities could be assuaged with half the damage done through conventional means, why take the risk of a nuclear holocaust and court total destruction?

The writer in a retired brigadier

Will thana culture change? : DATELINE PESHAWAR

WHEN the military government unveiled its plans to introduce police reforms, there were few who were willing to take them seriously. Their scepticism grew not because the government was not sincere in its endeavour in reining in the police, they were apprehensive because laws would not change the thana culture. There was nothing wrong with the British-time Police Act, it was that the custodian of law did not want to go by it.

The wisest among the wise in the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) are slowly but surely dismantling all that was British in their zeal to do away with a system they perceive was outdated and redundant. Little do they realise that  good governance and good policing is not something that can be enforced by enacting new legislation. We have plenty of laws, however, we have made any serious effort to implement them. Changing nomenclatures and introducing cosmetic changes therefore has not changed anything.

Even the hackneyed among us would acknowledge that good behaviour and professionalism is not something that can be enforced by a piece of legislation. Therefore, little has changed as far as the police are concerned. They remain a law unto themselves. They will prove you guilty before you are able to establish your innocence.

Consider this: a head constable of Peshawar City District Police took Rs 10,000 from a man to bring shame to a rival contractor. He took the money to falsely implicate an aged man from Wah Cantt and two sisters in a case of Zina. The accused were made to undergo medical examination. That same evening, the old man and two sisters were paraded before a group of overzealous press photographers and crime reporters, who unfortunately, never miss a juicy story slip by. They did not even wait for the results of the medical examination, which proved them innocent. Nothing had taken place as far the medical reports were concerned.

The next day however, newspapers threw caution to the wind and carried colour photographs of the three accused with full story. They stood condemned in the eye of the society, even before they could prove their innocence. Such is our press. Nothing can come in their way, if they could sell a few more copies by printing ‘juicy’ stories.

But as they say, avarice knows no bounds. Head constable, Bashir Dad blew the whistle on himself by demanding more cash. The conspiracy was exposed. The head constable was arrested, put in a quarter guard and the money recovered from him. And the newspapers, with the same exhibited indifference, published a retraction of sorts without caring to apologize to the elderly man and the two ladies. In Pakistan, you can get away with anything.

So far so good. And credit must be given where it is due — to the DIG, City District Police, Khurshid Alam Khan. But the mind boggles. Would this redeem the shame brought on the old man, the two sisters and their families? Will this in anyway repair their tarnished reputation?

Such are the laws of the land. Before one proves his or her innocence, he or she is condemned for a crime they have not committed, be it the Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) 1979 or the Blasphemy Law. There is no remedy for the damage done to the reputation of the people accused of the crime, even if they are proved to be innocent. There are instances, what our unforgiving society does to an accused of blasphemy or Zina. Girls implicated in Zina, acquitted by courts, were later on killed by their own kins to restore their honour. The police and the press, unfortunately, are equally guilty of this crime.

There are women in jail who have married men of their choice, against the wishes of their parents. They are languishing in jails, not because they have done something un-Islamic, but there is a law, which can be twisted and misused. In Peshawar City last week, a man was accused of having committed blasphemy and before he knew, he was charged under the relevant sections of the law and the mullahs had descended on his mohallah, demanding he be prosecuted. The man has since fled his home, knowing he would be lynched to death before he could prove his innocence. It is a lethal law. Today it is someone else. Tomorrow, it could be you and me.

These are serious issues, perhaps more serious than the Constitutional amendments that seek to empower am individual to dismiss a prime minister, his cabinet and send the entire assembly packing home. For these involve the very citizens whose life, property and honour have been guaranteed in the same Constitution.

The courts are under pressure from vested interest groups. If the courts get cold feet in such sensitive cases, the accused are either killed inside the jails, or shot later. The government, unfortunately, is too scared to deal with the issues while the civil society as a while has failed to respond to them. Sadly, ours’ is fast becoming a society where one can live with honour and dignity. The state is helpless. The courts are under pressure. The civil society is indifferent. Where should one look up for redemption!

No to the Lyari Expressway: COMMENT

THE immense humanitarian disaster (physical, social and economic) that is being created as a result of the building of the Lyari Expressway has been covered by the press. Urban planning considerations for and against the Expressway have also been discussed for many years. Appeals for transparency regarding the project design and for public consultations regarding its concept have also been made by citizens, NGOs, CBOs and planning professionals. These have been ignored by the government. However, since the decision of the military government to build the Expressway was taken, the authorities have given a number of justifications for its construction. These justifications need to be considered rationally.

What has been said by the authorities, time and again, is that they wish to remove and stop the future encroachments in the river bed since they can be washed away during floods. The concern of the authorities as such is for human life and property and is commendable. However, the Expressway is not removing people only from the river bed. More than fifty per cent of the people affected by the Expressway are those whose houses and businesses come in the Expressway alignment and who live above the flood line. In any case, for shifting people from the river bed, an Expressway is not required. All that is required is to shift the population living below the flood line. This population is engaged for the most part in the garbage sorting and recycling business which is also located along the corridor. Discussions with them indicate that they would be happy to shift along with the businesses to the Northern Bypass or to landfill sites, provided water and electricity was available. To prevent further encroachment, all that is required after that is the channelization of the river and the building of retaining walls along its banks.

The other reason that has been given is that the building of the Expressway will provide “unhampered and quick access to port traffic”. But then, the Northern Bypass is being built for this very purpose and after its construction, what need is there for the Expressway? Is it necessary to duplicate this function? It does not make sense. It makes even less sense since many cities which built expressways through the city for traffic, have long since diverted such traffic onto bypasses since the expressways were creating air and noise pollution. It must be remembered that the Lyari Expressway is being built through the most heavily congested areas of Karachi. To understand what heavy traffic can do, one simply needs to talk to people living on Khayaban-i-Roomi. Since those areas of Clifton were opened to heavy traffic, people no longer sit and play cards on the roundabouts, trees have shrivelled and residents complain of respiratory problems and related diseases. The Defence Housing Authority, for very sound environmental reasons, has not permitted the Southern Bypass to be built through it.

The third reason given for the building of the Expressway is that it will reduce traffic congestion on city roads. Anyone living in Karachi knows that the congestion on city roads can be more effectively reduced by other less costly and less destructive means. Karachi’s main corridors are broken and cannot be used for more than half their width; they have no footpaths so people are forced to walk on the roads; they are encroached upon by buses and trucks since there are no bus terminals, depots and cargo handling terminals; there are roads linking the corridors that were planned twenty years ago and have still not been built; there are traffic management issues which traffic engineering projects if implemented can solve; and above all there is the issue of traffic management. These comparatively small projects will bring far greater benefit to the city since they will not only ease traffic flow but will also benefit the pedestrian population and tens, if not hundreds, of Karachi neighbourhoods. The Lyari Expressway will not bring any of these benefits. It is a mega project which includes the construction of sixteen bridges and four inter-change flyovers in a length of sixteen kilometres while the rest of the city infrastructure lies in a shambles. One can equate its building with a household that requires bread but opts for buying a Mercedes and as a result continues to starve. It smacks of the same vulgarity.

The fourth reason given for the building of the Expressway is that it will beautify the city and “sea water will get treated sewage water”. Presentations of the Expressway project have shown transparencies in which boats are floating on the river and other recreation facilities. This is a fantasy. The Lyari river is actually a sewage channel. In addition, a box trunk is being built in its bed with a massive ADB loan to channelise the sewage to the Mauripur Treatment Plant. After this is completed, theoretically, the river will be dry. But then, it is possible that the planners are not aware of this. Also, the river banks will be unapproachable since the designs show the Expressway to be protected. Even if it is not protected, pedestrians do not cross expressways. And then, expressways and recreation do not go together and there are many other ways of beautifying cities. In addition, in the opinion of many architects the expressway is a disaster in aesthetic terms. It’s a rollercoaster supported on high walls when it flies over the existing bridges. Underpasses would have been cheaper and less obtrusive and ugly. Usually for projects of this sort an aesthetic committee comprising experts is appointed to review the project. In this case, however, no such committee has been appointed.

The building of the Lyari Expressway should be seen in the larger context of the city in general and of the Lyari Corridor in particular. On either side of the Lyari Corridor between M.A Jinnah Road in the south and Estate Avenue in the north, are the most congested areas of the city. Densities are as high as four thousand persons per hectare. There are no open spaces and collectively this area has no lung. In addition, this area contains the city’s wholesale markets and environmentally polluting industry, both formal and informal. It also contains warehousing and storage for the markets and industrial activity. Residents of these old Karachi settlements have constantly asked the government to shift the warehousing and industry out of their areas so that their environmental conditions can improve. Market operators also wish to leave (but have no option) since managing cargo handling and transportation in the narrow lanes of the old city is becoming increasingly difficult, if not impossible. The Lyari Expressway solves none of these problems of the inner city or of the neighbourhoods it passes through. On the contrary its building is congesting these neighbourhoods even more. This is because the businesses and homes that are being demolished are being relocated within the old neighbourhoods thus densifying and degrading them further.

If the military government wishes to do Karachi a favour, it should stop the construction of the Lyari Expressway. It should build the Northern Bypass and transfer the Dhan Mandi, Chemical Market and garbage sorting and recycling industry to the Northern Bypass. Naturally, the godowns, transport, related businesses and labour working in them will also want to shift. This shifting, if well planned, will improve the functioning of these activities, benefit the relocated residents and can be self-financing. The spaces vacated by these activities in the inner city can then be converted into badly needed amenities. Karachi will change. Traffic congestion will be eased and Karachi’s oldest areas will be rehabilitated.

At the same time, retaining walls should be built along the river and the river should be channelized. A lot of land will be recovered as a result. This land can be converted into a green space, a badly needed lung for a neglected and degraded inner city, a part of which is where Karachi began as a city and which contains the decaying remnants of its glorious architectural heritage.

The Lyari Expressway is a typical example of insensitive planning where a grandiose project is developed ignoring larger contextual realities; where physical results are more important than people and the environment; and where the megalomania of politicians and the fantasy of planners is satisfied. Karachi has had many such projects but they have not benefited the people or the city and many of them remain incomplete. It is high time we realized that planning is all about consensus building, and about people, their homes and employment, and that the vast majority of Karachi’s population consists of pedestrians, commuters who use public transport and who work and live in the informal sector which is the backbone of the city’s economy. We need to plan to benefit them. That should be our priority. And if we cannot do this then we will simply further fragment an already fragmented city.