‘Forgive us our trespasses’

PITY the judges. For decades, they were scorned for not standing up to military dictators. But when they finally decide to take on a weakened autocrat, the politicians turn on them for trying to chuck him out.

It’s now official: Iftikhar Chaudhry, the people’s hero, is the establishment’s bugaboo. Asif Zardari’s hostility is palpable, though it can hardly be real. If the PPP co-chair begrudges the chief justice his act of omission, shouldn’t he be raging against the man whose act of commission sent him to jail? But it’s all bonhomie and hugs on that front. Political expediency anyone? Perhaps Nawaz Sharif will throw a sinecure the CJ’s way. If only a judge could be made an OSD.

Meanwhile, the media is frothing at the mouth. The politicians have only themselves to blame, having fed the media red meat. Parliamentary supremacy, independence of the judiciary, rule of law, constitutionalism — complex terms bandied about as sound bites. Since politics is the real national sport, it is hardly surprising that the ratings-obsessed news channels jumped gleefully on the judicial bandwagon.The feeding frenzy has continued with the ‘constitutional package’, the legalese du jour. Slap on a two-for-one label and you would be forgiven for thinking you’re in Walmart or Tesco. Or maybe McDonald’s. Would you like fries with that, ma’am?

And forget the pabulum about democracy. You don’t have to be a fellow at All Souls to deduce that constitutions amended with a single person in mind don’t make the strongest foundations of democracy. Or that foisting a package on parliament for rubber-stamping isn’t the best way to achieve parliamentary supremacy.

Pakistan’s only noteworthy contribution to constitutional jurisprudence is thousands of miles away: outside the entrance to the law library in Oxford a commemorative plaque thanks the people of Pakistan for their generous donation towards the construction of that temple of knowledge. BB must have arranged it.

Let’s step back for a second. Parliament isn’t embarking on an epic journey; it’s simply trying to avoid decapitation. And forget all the highfalutin rhetoric; Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif are no founding fathers, Musharraf is no de Gaulle and Iftikhar Chaudhry is no Justice Cornelius. None of this should be surprising, but the country’s collective memory seems to have failed yet again.

To many, Musharraf is the devil incarnate, drunk on power and unable to let go. He probably is. But let’s give the devil his due: Musharraf’s bag of tricks puts politicians to shame. The soldier has navigated the political minefield in Pakistan with great skill. He pulled off a feat that left politicians openly fuming, but secretly envious: the benevolent dictator kept the public on his side for many a year even as he showed contempt for it by refusing to genuinely test his support at the ballot box.Today, the president’s political obituary has been written so many times that he’s put Mark Twain’s exaggerated demise to shame. Some of it has been self-purgation — the once-heralded saviour offered as a ritual sacrifice to atone for the sin of expectation eight years ago. The only relevant question has been ignored: should Musharraf go because of what he has done in the past or what he can do today?

On the moral plane, if the past is the yardstick, then what are Nawaz Sharif and Zardari doing here? Or is it simply an issue of pushing the president out because he can be? His longevity belies that claim; seven months on from his second coup, and 103 since his first, the end is nowhere in sight. For heaven’s sake, the EU policy chief, Javier Solana, even suggested he will stay in office for five years.

But does that mean that illegitimate power should never be challenged? No. The lawyers’ movement was the greatest political phenomenon in decades because it symbolised epic resistance. And Iftikhar Chaudhry stands above many a pygmy who has held high office.

But good guys don’t finish first here. Politics is a dark art in Pakistan and whoever dares to wade in it does so at his own peril. The Supreme Court’s abortive move to oust the president was a political act. Musharraf’s re-election reeked of chicanery and illegality. So did his first coup. The public may have switched sides in the intervening years, but the establishment hadn’t. And the establishment is all that matters in the end.

The present brigade argues that if he is stopped now it would deter future chiefs and presidents. That’s a triumph of hope over experience. Musharraf was preceded by two chiefs, Generals Kakar and Karamat, who submitted to civilian pre-eminence. Both those events only hardened the army high command’s stance. Today, there is every reason to believe that they would be unhappy if their ex-chief is turfed out. So just as Musharraf supporters were wrong in 1999, his most vitriolic opponents are wrong today. The president is largely yesterday’s news. He’s cornered, unpopular and has his hands on fewer levers of power. He will probably be forced to concede even more as he cloyingly seeks to rescue his legacy. Let him stay on as a whipping boy and a symbol of loathing. Remove him from the scene and a forgetful, impatient country will turn on the coalition. Musharraf is gone, so what’s stopping you now, they’ll ask. We are a democracy, after all. Few will recognise the Potemkin village.

Our Goliath of authoritarianism will never be felled with a single blow; he needs to be slowly starved of air. Yelling that one man’s ouster will end the threat is bunk. Truth is, lost in the president’s dissembling and provocation of the past year there has been one nugget of truth: this is a time of transition. Transitions are delicate and often involve unpalatable choices. Push too hard and, instead of moving towards democracy, we will revisit the nightmares of the past.

cyril.a@gmail.com

Killing for religion

QUAID-I-AZAM Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s speech of Aug 11, 1947, is etched in many minds: “You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of the state….”

These served as golden words for the minorities at the time of Partition — they were, in fact, a promise. Their ancestors had toiled arduously for this soil well before Pakistan came into being: many were a part of the freedom struggle and once their objective was attained they chose to stay back. After all, they had a promise of equality and they envisioned a nation where it would reign supreme.

Some 60 years later, that vision has been marred by reality. The hopes and dreams of the minorities have been shattered. Despite all the high-sounding rhetoric from high-ups in the government which, intermittently, promises to grant equal rights to the minorities, the ground position is different. Members of minority communities are increasingly concerned about their livelihoods and their very lives: their predicament of living virtually as second-class citizens is now worsening with a steady and continuous erosion of their rights.

Minorities together comprise roughly three per cent of Pakistan’s population — a significant five million. Many belong to the middle classes: substantial numbers have devoted their lives to education, healthcare, legal and social services, banking and business sectors and philanthropy. The majority, however, mainly Hindus and Christians, live at or below the poverty line, with fewer opportunities for education and employment. Millions start life with a distinct disadvantage, overwhelmed by widespread poverty and disparities, relegated to low-skilled, low-paying positions such household help, janitors and similar occupations.

Pakistan ostensibly prides itself on its tolerance, with Muslims stating that “All are equal in the eyes of Allah.” And yet, there are homes where the plates and glasses of domestic employees are kept separately, making them virtually ‘untouchables’. How many families do you and I know of where the family enjoys a meal at a fancy restaurant, where the little girl (frequently a minority citizen) attending to the children, isn’t even allowed to sit with the family, let alone eat with them? Is it any wonder that millions grow up regarding themselves as inferior with an acute sense of alienation?

The erosion of minority rights has been going on for several years; for a considerable length of time, separate electorates were introduced, instead of the earlier joint electorate. Other factors of erosion followed, the final nail in the coffin being the notorious blasphemy laws.

Human Rights Watch observed in 1993, “Government efforts to Islamicise Pakistan’s civil and criminal law, which began in earnest in the early 1980s, have dangerously undermined fundamental rights of freedom of religion and expression, and have led to serious abuses against the country’s religious minorities.” It went on to say, “The broad and vague provisions of a series of laws known collectively as the blasphemy laws, which strengthen criminal penalties for offences against Islam, have been used to bring politically-motivated charges of blasphemy or other religious offences against members of religious minorities as well as some Muslims.”

In 1982, Gen Ziaul Haq introduced Section 295 B for ‘defiling the Holy Quran’ and Section 295 C mandating ‘death for use of derogatory remarks in respect of the Holy Prophet (PBUH)’. These provisions reportedly made Pakistan’s blasphemy laws the strictest in the Muslim world.

The blasphemy laws have been used for political vendetta against minorities and also against Muslims. The case of the well-respected Dr Akhtar Hameed Khan, the founder of the Orangi Pilot Project and a well-known social worker who won numerous international awards, is far too well known to be recounted. He was victimised under the blasphemy laws on falsified charges.

The late Bishop John Joseph of Faisalabad committed suicide on May 6, 1998, as a desperate measure, in front of the sessions court in Sahiwal, in protest against giving the death sentence to Ayub Masih for blasphemy. Since then, the number of people victimised by the laws has grown, spreading fear among the minorities.

Sandie Cornish, director for the Justice and Peace Commission, Australia, considers the blasphemy laws to be ‘vaguely worded, and open to misuse’. Pakistan’s Justice and Peace Commission confirmed in July 2005 that since 1998, 650 people had been falsely accused and arrested under the blasphemy laws; 20 people had been killed in the same period. As of July 2005, 80 Christians are in prison, accused of blasphemy. Many have been sentenced to death.

Qadianis, who have been classified as non-Muslim, form a minority group which has faced increasing intolerance. A human rights report states there has been considerable violence against Hindu communities in Balochistan and that they have faced the worst threats in their history. Administrative efforts have been woefully inadequate to safeguard them against the wrath of local extremists. In repeated episodes, the holy books of minorities have been defiled, their places of worship attacked, burnt or bombed. Hundreds of people have been forced to flee their homes.

Even Muslims have not been spared. Mohammad Younas Sheikh, charged with blasphemy in 2002, was acquitted later due to public pressure but had to leave the country to escape the wrath of his enemies. Ashiq Nabi of Nowshera was attacked by a mob of 400 and shot dead in 2005. These are not the only cases — there are many more.

Today, we have reached the stage where a young man, Jagdeesh Kumar, was charged with blasphemy, and lynched to death, reportedly by a crowd of 1,500 people. His beating started within the factory where he worked, and continued in the outer guard room. As Iqbal Haider (co-chairperson of HRCP) stated in a recent TV talk show, the violence took place in the presence of about two dozen policemen, who did nothing to stop those who killed Jagdeesh.

Are we moving towards barbarism? Are other religions not deserving of equal respect? Don’t minorities have the same human rights as Muslims? If this is a democracy, where are its constitutional guarantees? Although a change was introduced in the procedure of registering a blasphemy case — it had to be investigated before a person could be arrested — Jagdeesh’s case shows its inconsequential impact.

As a developing country which has been through repeated political and military turmoil, Pakistan is grappling with the trauma of poverty, the absence of food and water security, the frequent denial of human rights and minimal human development. Don’t we have enough problems? Do we need to invite more by way of laws which go against Pakistan’s Constitution of 1973? Article 25 of the Constitution promises equality under the law, and of the law, irrespective of caste, creed or sex. Where is this equality and where are those fundamental human rights?

E-waste dumping

THOUSANDS of discarded computers from western Europe and the US arrive in the ports of west Africa every day, ending up in massive toxic dumps where children burn and pull them apart to extract metals for cash.

The dumping of the developed world’s electronic trash, or e-waste, is in direct contravention of international legislation and is causing serious health problems for inhabitants of the shanty towns that have sprung up amid the smouldering dumps in Lagos and Accra.

Campaigners believe unscrupulous scrap merchants are illegally dumping millions of tonnes of dangerous waste on the developing world under the guise of exporting it for use in schools and hospitals. They are calling for better policing of the ban on exports of e-waste, which can release lead, mercury and other dangerous chemicals. “Ghana is increasingly becoming a dumping ground for waste from Europe and the US,” according to Mike Anane, director of the League of Environmental Journalists in Ghana. “The people that break open these monitors tell me that they suffer from nausea, headaches and respiratory problems.”

More than half a million computers arrive in Lagos every month but only about one in four works. The rest are sold as scrap, smashed up and burned. “Millions of tons of e-waste disappears from the developed world every year and continues to reappear in developing countries, despite international bans,” according to Luke Upchurch from Consumers International, which represents more than 220 consumer groups in 115 countries.

Since the introduction of the Basle Ban outlawing the export of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries in 1992, computers have become an everyday item. Consumers and businesses are replacing their kit at an ever increasing rate, creating a new waste mountain.

Six years ago the EU produced the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) directive, which introduced new curbs and restrictions on the movement of e-waste. The directive, which came into effect in Britain in January last year, heavily regulates the movement of e-waste for recycling and bans its export for disposal. It also introduced a scheme under which the cost of properly disposing of electronic equipment put on the market after August 2005 must be picked up by the producers of the waste — manufacturers, retailers, branders and importers.

But DanWatch, a partner organisation of Consumers International, has evidence that computer equipment from British companies and even local authorities is being dumped in west Africa. “We filmed children as young as six searching for metal scraps in the earth, which was littered with the toxic waste from thousands of shattered cathode ray tubes,” said Benjamin Holst, co-founder of DanWatch. “A whole community is virtually living and working in this highly toxic environment, which is growing every day.”

Properly functioning computer equipment is exempt from the WEEE rules about export. In fact the regulations encourage refurbishment and re-use of computer equipment. But there is no regime that checks computer equipment destined for re-use before it is shipped overseas.

Regulating waste in England and Wales falls under the remit of the Environment Agency. One organisation that has already made a name for itself as a legitimate supplier of second-hand computers to the developing world is Computer Aid International, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary and has sent more than 119,000 computers to countries including Kenya and Chile.

The charity is registered with the Environment Agency as an official e-waste treatment company. Any machines it cannot use are sent to specialist recycling facilities within the EU. Founder Tony Roberts believes the problem with existing e-waste regulations is that outside the EU they do not make the producer of computer equipment pay for its proper disposal. Without this cash there is little incentive for developing nations to start investing in proper recycling facilities.

As a result the e-waste problem is likely to grow, not because of unscrupulous European exporters but because of the increasing number of computers being sold in the developing world.

“When you look at the whole product lifetime of a computer 75% of the environmental damage is done before the computer is switched on for the first time,” he pointed out. “It is the production, the mining, the factories producing the kit and the use of toxic materials — that is where the environmental damage is done.”

Once Computer Aid’s donated equipment reaches the end of its useful life, the company tries to limit the environmental damage caused by its disposal. In Kenya, for instance, it is helping to build a recycling facility that will take not just its own kit but broken machines from across the country. The process is basic but better than using landfill — and circuit boards are re-exported to Britain.

Roberts said: “The problem is the producers are not providing any funds in the developing markets, where they are selling millions of PCs, so we just need to set up similar funds in all markets.”

It is a call taken up by Martin Hojsik, toxics campaigner at Greenpeace International. “We want the producers to be responsible for the take-back of their kit,” he said.

The hope is that the sheer expense of making producers pay for the disposal of their computer equipment wherever it is sold or used across the world, will spur the industry towards making “greener” machines.

To bring a quick end to the spectacle of children scrabbling around in toxic waste dumps in Africa, Europe’s regulators and more importantly its consumers and businesses need to take responsibility for disposing of their computer equipment.

—The Guardian, London

The ecological factor

WHY do our people display so much anger and intolerance? They are quick to use foul language. They block the traffic for hours and hours at a time because they are impatient on the road.

These are symptoms of mental stress and this is generally attributed to social causes. However, we often tend to forget that our existing ecosystem also impacts on our mental health.

Ecology, in its pure sense, is concerned with the interaction of living organism with its environment. In Pakistan, unfortunately, this relationship is not symbiotic. There are a number of ecological factors that affect our population of 165 million in many ways — an important one being the annual population growth rate of 2.2 per cent which creates a dilemma for us. It leads to poor town planning, rapid urbanisation and concentration of population. This in turn affects the mental wellbeing of people.

The average density of population in the country works out to 171 persons per square kilometre. But this does not give a true picture because the population is not evenly distributed. Some places are intensely congested which combined with the housing problem means that people do not, in general, get enough space and privacy. It is not realised but this can be a perpetual source of stress and anxiety.

Noise pollution is another major problem that has a negative effect on the state of people’s mental health. Traffic and noisy vehicles not only affect the hearing and impair concentration, other sources of pollution such as gases originating from industries, radiation, tobacco and burning of fossil fuels have a negative effect on the cognitive functions of people living in a polluted environment. Weather and climate are widely known to impact on the human psyche.

The World Health Organisation has reported an increase in psychiatric illnesses because of the adversities of the weather. The hot summer months marked by repeated power failures take a heavy toll in terms of people’s coping abilities and tolerance. Small wonder we hear of people torching buildings and vehicles in protest against frequent and prolonged power breakdowns. This ‘acquired tendency for arson’ is something significant and gives great insight into the devastating effect it has on the human psyche.

A look at the living conditions of the majority of people is quite disturbing. It makes one wonder if the health authorities realise what is happening. There is a huge urban influx taking place, and squatter settlements are mushrooming, shantytowns and katchi abadis are sprouting, illegal constructions are being carried out without due consideration to their impact on public health. With builders not observing the code for healthy homes one can expect adverse effects on people’s health, both physical and mental.

Thus it is advised that the home site should be elevated and dry with damp-proof roofs, with an abundant supply of wholesome water, and adequate sanitary facilities. Window space is required to be equivalent to one-fifth of floor space and space requirements should allow for 90 square feet per person and 60 square feet per child. The height of the room should also be such as to provide an air space of 500 cubic feet per capita with no back-to-back house construction.

When these features are missing, one can expect emotional and behavioural problems among the inmates of the house. Then there is continuous evidence of environmental degradation and the threatening effects of global warming. These ecological factors have a direct bearing on the mental and emotional health of the people. Apart from these, the socio-economic environment is also a key element in determining the mental health of the people.

Adequate recreational facilities are important for leisure and relaxation. But these are diminishing as the security environment worsens with bomb blasts, kidnapping, looting and violence creating an umbrella of fear. These have a devastating effect on the psyche of individuals.As a result, many people have acquired a ‘learned helplessness’ and left themselves at the mercy of fate. On account of this environment, human relationships are affected and harmony, mutual understanding, love and care are disappearing. The current economic disparity has caused much harm. Rich people are getting richer by the day while the poor are getting poorer. This has caused great emotional turbulence and disrupted the moral values of people.

What we see in today’s Pakistan does not come anywhere close to a healthy environment and the consequences we see are in the form of growing depression, anxiety, suicide, substance dependence, psychosomatic disorders and even psychosis. The present government should look into this vital but largely ignored aspect of human health. While the media can promote health education in relation to the environment, the people must also play their role to derive collective benefits by adopting and promoting civic sense.

Amin.Muhammad@med.mun.ca