A go-ahead for India?

NO American president has ever encouraged any aggression on India’s part towards Pakistan. Invariably, American presidents have worked for peace, especially after the two countries acquired nuclear status. Islamabad might have often felt disappointed by America’s refusal to be more categorical on issues such as the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination, but the standard line pursued by all American presidents has been to urge Pakistan and India to work for peace. In December 2001, when the Indian parliament building was attacked and India massed troops on Pakistan’s borders, the Republican administration cautioned the two countries to exercise restraint. In fact, behind the scenes President Bush and then Secretary of State Colin Powell worked hard to lower tensions to avoid a war. However, last Monday, president-elect Barack Obama seemed to have ditched this time-honoured American policy. Obama did not use the word ‘retaliate’ but the implications of his remarks can be understood in the context of his affirmative response to a newsman’s question at a press conference. The newsman reminded him of his campaign pledge that he would attack Pakistan if he had actionable intelligence and asked him whether India had the same ‘right’. Obama replied, “I think that sovereign nations, obviously, have the right to protect themselves.” Does this mean that, for the first time in the six decades of America’s relationship with the subcontinent, a US president-elect is encouraging belligerence instead of working for peace? His words that America would “remain steadfast in India’s efforts to catch the perpetrators” of the Mumbai attacks come at a time when India is in the grip of anger.

There are concerns that India has benefited from the war on terror and has managed to advance its national interests. After all, the relationship between Pakistan and India did not begin on the day the terrorists attacked Mumbai; it goes deep into history. The Kashmir dispute has existed since 1947 and the two countries have fought four wars, with a fifth one averted following the attack on the Indian parliament. Instead of trying to mediate as an honest broker America’s next president appears to be fanning hostilities. He may be doing so to gain India’s trust or because of his suspicions regarding the role of Pakistan’s spy agencies in making trouble for India, but his statement will only encourage pro-Taliban parties and promote extremist sentiments in Pakistan.

The government has to address the issue coolly. Overreaction to New Delhi’s demands would mean disastrous consequences for the region. Pakistan must continue to pursue the war on terror and point out to its allies the consequences of a conflict in the subcontinent, indicating how this would be counterproductive and make the terrorists more powerful.

‘Shortage’ of medicines

PRICE manipulation through the creation of artificial shortages is all too common in Pakistan. Much to our detriment, we have grown used to unscrupulous millers and hoarders deliberately curtailing supplies of food items such as wheat flour and sugar in order to jack up prices at the retail level. Successive governments have failed to crack down hard on hoarders, often hiding behind the free-market, supply-and-demand argument when in actual fact there is nothing ‘free’ about a system in which cartels, not genuine market forces, call the shots. The political clout of many wheat and sugar hoarders is no doubt a factor as well. But the exploitation doesn’t end there. Consumer rights are trampled at will at every turn in this country due to capitalist greed, official indifference and our own failure or inability to speak out against injustices. Unempowered as they are, most consumers have no option but to suffer in silence. But even those who can make a difference rarely stand up for their rights.

Though we have become accustomed to being taken for a ride, there has to be a limit to rampant profiteering. That boundary has now been crossed with multinational pharmaceutical companies allegedly conspiring to create a countrywide shortage of medicines. Exorbitantly priced flour can produce tremendous misery but the absence of life-saving drugs can cause instant death. The list of ‘missing’ medicines is long and most of the drugs that feature on it are described as essential medicines by WHO. Patients and their caregivers are running around in circles searching for medicines that cannot be found anywhere even in large cities — and in some cases across the country. Doctors are being asked by patients to suggest alternative medicines, which may or may not be as efficacious as the drugs prescribed originally.

It is said that the multinational pharmaceutical firms have deliberately slowed down production in order to pressurise the government and extract maximum concessions in the run-up to the new drug-pricing formula, which is likely to be announced by the end of this month. With the government expected to allow a significant increase in prices, it follows that the companies in question stand to make a packet if they withhold supplies until the new rates take effect. Note that we are talking about essential medicines here, not consumer durables that people can do without for a month.

Irrespective of what ‘relief’ is granted to the pharmaceutical multinationals later this month, they must be convinced to speed up production and release supplies forthwith.

Action is needed now

ALTHOUGH the incidence of HIV/AIDS in Pakistan has thankfully not assumed the horrific proportions it has in some other parts of the world, caution and awareness are essential to prevent a potentially explosive situation from arising. Only a few thousand cases have been registered by the local AIDS authorities — although, alarmingly, the UN and the World Health Organisation claim a more realistic figure would be 120,000 or so. The discrepancy between this figure and the number of known cases speaks volumes for the state of awareness, testing facilities, and most importantly, social attitudes towards this life-threatening disease for which no cure has yet been discovered. Although, thanks to the media, there is more information available about HIV infection, there is still a tendency to shy away from discussing the topic of sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS. But such attitudes must be overcome especially when our surroundings, characterised as they are by poverty, unemployment and other socials ills, speak of a reality from which we cannot distance ourselves. Commercial sex workers, long-distance truckers, street children exposed to the aberrant sexual demands of adults and drug addicts are all at risk of contracting AIDS as are the wives of men of an adulterous nature. So are doctors and other medical practitioners who constantly have to handle needles and dangerous equipment that has very often not been sterilised after use.

Moreover, there is a need to reach out to those with the infection but who are too fearful of making their affliction public. The stigma that is attached to AIDS must be removed if a more realistic picture regarding the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is to be obtained. For this education should start ideally at school, where apart from being told about the biological aspects of AIDS, students are taught to adopt a sensitive approach towards those suffering from diseases linked to aberrant sexual behaviour. As mentioned earlier, Pakistan is fortunate that HIV/AIDS cases are still relatively few which makes it far easier to take preventive measures now. With a social structure that is no longer cohesive in the face of discord on several fronts, our health authorities should undertake to do so without further loss of time.

OTHER VOICES - European Press

Real crisis in education

Cyprus Mail

THE issue of illegal private lessons has raised its head again, with the news that the Association of Private Tutors has handed police a list of names of public school teachers it suspects of moonlighting as private tutors in breach of their employment contracts.

Civil servants are not allowed to have second jobs — a provision widely flouted across the government sector — but in the case of teachers it is a criminal offence that carries severe ethical implications for the state of public education. Teachers should not take money in the afternoon, often from the same pupils they teach in the morning.

The initial reaction of the Secondary School Teachers’ Association … was defensive, saying it was wrong to brand teachers as criminals. But the truth is that the practice is endemic to the system, and the very fact it is so widespread suggests the ministry has so far been unwilling to tackle the problem head on. In the circumstances, can one blame the private tutors for taking their complaint to the police?

Of course, their primary motivation is the elimination of unfair competition — teachers who know the pupils and hold out the promise of tailoring their extra lessons to the achievement of higher grades, which they themselves will issue back at school.

But there is a more fundamental issue at stake, one that should be the central plank of political debate in Cyprus, and that is the basic failure of public education. The fact that private tuition — whether legal or illegal — is almost universal in Cyprus is an implacable indictment of the quality of state teaching on the island.

The bottom line is that our children should not need extra afternoon and weekend lessons — that time should be for homework, for play, for sport, for friends. Yes, we need to strike out the practice of moonlighting, but we also need to provide a quality education system that eradicates the genuine demand for private tutoring.

— (Nov 29)

A wake-up call for the regime

RECENT reports issued by certain well-known institutes have indicated the government’s failure to inspire confidence in its ability to provide a framework for policy strategy to address growing public fears regarding the economic crisis and security threats. This has led to comments that the clock will start ticking for the government unless it puts its house in order.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies recently issued a report titled ‘Pakistan on the brink’ predicting that the economic crisis, political turmoil and growing militancy could rock the country’s foundations and force the army to step in although it would be reluctant to do so “having lost so much prestige during the nine years of Musharraf’s rule”.

Also, a new study by US intelligence agencies titled ‘Global trends 2025 — a transformed world’ projects that Afghanistan will continue to demonstrate a significant pattern of tribal interaction and conflict and that the future of Pakistan is uncertain with the NWFP and tribal areas probably continuing to be poorly governed and sources of cross-border instability.

One of the key areas of worry is the economy. A lot of things have gone wrong with disturbing indicators giving the impression that the government particularly its economic policymakers had gone on vacation as seen in the budget document of June 2008 where projections are unrealistic. The period of the lame-duck economy may cause a huge setback to the economic prospects of Pakistan in the coming years.

Even though we have reached an agreement with the IMF, one hopes we will not be lulled into complacency thinking that this will provide the much-needed stabilisation and economic growth. In fact, growth in the next two years is going to be a modest affair.

There does not seem to be signs of a solid strategy aimed at improving the tax-to-GDP ratio which in Pakistan is one of the lowest in the world or one that addresses the structural problems of the economy including the promotion of export potential. The worst in the world’s economic slowdown may yet happen in 2009 and this would adversely affect prospects of trade and investment for Pakistan. The government needs to put in place an effective policy framework and an implementation mechanism.

Much needs to be amended on the political front as well. The government must come clean on its policy pertaining to the war against terrorism. Despite the in-camera joint session of parliament some time ago and the emergence of a consensus resolution, the concerns of a large number of Pakistanis have not been addressed.

To be fair to the government it inherited a policy bereft of any terms of engagement. The state of denial and deceit that characterised this policy was best illustrated two years ago when Hellfire missiles unleashed by what locals said were US drones struck a religious school — the official claim was that it was a militant camp — in Bajaur killing a number of people. The Pakistan military denied outside involvement and it was asserted that the attack was carried out by the country’s army.

Some commentators have even suggested that the insurgency in Bajaur may have been triggered by this attack which the government handled so ineptly.

It is evident that despite denials by the government there has been a tacit deal on air strikes between Pakistan and the US. Without intelligence, such strikes cannot be successful and if so then who is providing it? Steve Coll, the author of Ghost Wars, in a piece in the New Yorker recently wrote that “in public the Pakistani government denies its involvement because the attacks are unpopular; in private it approves them in the hope that it will keep the US off its back and perhaps throw the Taliban off balance…. The raids provoke humiliation, anger and nationalism among Pakistanis.”

Nato troops in Afghanistan may see a military surge in 2009 while there is a need to engage the Pakhtuns who are conservative and have historically looked to the religious leadership in times of crisis. Nato should also provide Afghanistan with long-term and focused assistance in various sectors of nation-building as a way of providing an honourable exit for itself and giving the people of the region a sense of relief. The grave situation demands that the government review its policy and address the issue of counter-insurgency in a coordinated manner rather than appear to be weak and insincere.

Faced with threats to the country’s existence, what is important is not only what the government is doing but how it is doing it. A political party in power has to serve a national purpose. It has to promote national security and development which depends upon respect for the rule of law. Statecraft is not about holding occasional meetings and making off-the-cuff remarks. Leadership requires discipline, recognition of the challenges and the government’s response to these through its policies. The government’s articulation has to be credible. People long for a coherent, well-thought-out future strategy which can win their hearts and minds.

The government should be seen to promote the common good. If it is not seen to be putting its house in order, then any wake-up call might be too late to ward off what has unfortunately come to be seen as the beginning of the end of Pakistan’s democratic interlude. Reverting to a military dispensation is not the solution; it has always ended up being a part of the problem in Pakistan.

kmahmood07@yahoo.com

Seeking private life

THE sons of the Sicilian mafia’s jailed “boss of all bosses”, Bernardo Provenzano, on Monday made an emotional appeal for what one called “the right to live like any other member of the public”.

“We have lived, and continue to live, as if we were Big Brother contestants,” said Angelo Provenzano. “We have been actors in the biggest reality show on Cosa Nostra.”

He complained bitterly of police surveillance and media pressure. His younger brother, 26 year-old Francesco, said: “Every activity I get ready to set up is scotched because it is [defined by the law as] a ‘product of the laundering of illicitly obtained assets’. I ask myself, when will I be able to have a life of my own.”

As a language and literature graduate, he said he had won a scholarship to teach Italian in a Germany university. But he added: “They took it away from me because someone said I could not represent Italy abroad. As if I were the ambassador.”

His elder brother, aged 33, added: “We always try to make ourselves known by our Christian names, and not by our surname. I always introduce myself as Angelo and only if it is necessary do I add the rest.”

The two young men denied they had been instructed by their father to give the interview, carried by two Italian dailies, La Repubblica and La Stampa. But police and prosecutors can be expected to pore over every word in a search for possible coded messages — all the more so since Angelo Provenzano used the interview to play down the crimes of the mafia. A spokesman for relatives of the mafia’s victims said his declarations of love and respect for his father were “an insult”.

Bernardo Provenzano was arrested in 2006 after 43 years on the run. His elder son spent the first 16 years of his life also in hiding. “I was born and brought up in captivity,” said Angelo, who refused to discuss his childhood on the run.

In 1992, the boys and their mother returned to their home town, Corleone, when “my growing-up began”, he said. The son of the “capo di tutti i capi” acknowledged he had found it “difficult” to integrate with the rest of society. At least as difficult was the surveillance to which the family were subjected after 1992. “They monitored every setting, every space — the living room, the car, the bathroom, the windows,” he said. “Whether they still monitor us, I don’t know. We certainly behave as if we were [under surveillance].” He suggested that behind the mafia’s operations lay manoeuvres by the authorities, and claimed two of the organisation’s most famous victims, the investigating magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, had been sacrificed “on the altar of raison d’etat” (national interest).

But he admitted that he had “curbed his curiosity” and had never asked his mother direct questions about his father. “I concede certain mitigating circumstances to my father”, he said, “so I have nothing to admonish him for.”

The brother of a journalist murdered by the mob said in an open letter to the Provenzano sons: “There is no need to renounce your father, but [only] to disown his role and condemn decisively his criminal actions.”

— The Guardian, London