Always Among The Worst

By Amir Zia
Monday, Dec 30, 2013
The New 

For Pakistani babies born in 2013 and beyond, the state has only to offer an unwelcoming and brutalised society. Peace, prosperity, and happiness will remain elusive for our children as we have created a society where violence, extremism and lawlessness are rife
Last year, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a sister company of The Economist, carried out a research to measure which country will provide “the best opportunities for a healthy, safe and prosperous life in the years ahead.”
The report, titled ‘The lottery of life’, was carried in The Economist’s annual issue, ‘The World in 2013’, in which out of 80 countries, Pakistan ranked at a dismal 75th position – only ahead of Angola, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Kenya and Nigeria.
The five countries tipped best for a baby born in 2013 were Switzerland, Australia, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The report was published in Urdu by the Jang Group in partnership with The Economist in ‘Kaiysa Hoga 2013?’, an annual publication available in the local market since 2010. 
The EIU report included parameters like quality-of-life linked to the results of subjective-life satisfactory surveys – “how happy people say they are – to objective determinants of the quality of life across countries.” The report said that being rich helps more than anything else, but at the same time crime rate, trust in institutions and the health of family life mattered too, along with demography, geography and many social and cultural characteristics.
The EIU forecasts to 2030 are aimed at finding where the luckiest babies would be born in 2013 and at identifying places that remain among the worst.
Pakistan’s was well below neighbouring India which got the 66th position, Sri Lanka at 63rd and Iran at 58th. Comparing ourselves with Europe, North America, Far East and Middle East of course makes no sense, as they remain far ahead of us in each and every number. For Pakistani babies, the future indications are indeed bleak. 
In its latest issue, ‘The World in 2014’, the EIU report focused on countries that remain ripe for rebellion and major upheavals. Here again, Pakistan was placed in the category of high risk countries – but luckily not among the “very high risk”. Still, Pakistan’s bracketing among high risk countries is a manifestation of its institutional and political weaknesses. Chances of social unrest and risk of instability makes it a risky place, which appears ripe for rebellion.
The EIU is only one among many international institutions that have come up with worrying indicators for the country. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, Unicef, the World Health Organisation and many more have only sad numbers to report and bad tidings to give about Pakistan’s present and the future.
Sixty-eight years after Independence, we have been unable to provide tap water to nearly 50 percent of our urban and 80 percent of the rural population. More than 43 million Pakistanis defecate in the open as access to toilets remains shamefully out of their reach, according to Unicef. 
Pakistan is all set to miss its Millennium Development Goal targets on health and education by 2015. The net enrolment rates in education have risen, but still remain the lowest in South Asia. The World Bank says that infant and under-five mortality rates showed a similar story, while the country remains plagued by gender disparities in education, health and all the economic sectors. 
Around 44 percent of children below the age of five are stunted because of lack of proper nutrition. And the resource allocation on education as a percentage of GDP places Pakistan among the lowest spenders on education and health in the region. (at around two percent of GDP).
We have been unable to eradicate the polio virus from the country because a small, militant religious section of the population considers polio vaccination to be against the tenants of Islam and a western conspiracy to make our future generations infertile. The result is that Pakistan is among the only three countries if the world where this deadly disease still exists. Our holy warriors attack and kill polio vaccinators and do not allow children to get polio drops in many areas – not just in the terrorist infested tribal areas, but even some parts of Karachi. 
The fast eroding writ of the state, growing lawlessness, crime and the twin challenges of religiously motivated extremism and terrorism makes Pakistan among the most dangerous countries of the world.
One can get killed in Pakistan simply for marrying against the wishes of one’s family or following a religious belief seen as heretical by some other sect. Terrorists are free to explode bombs, assassinate and carry out suicide attacks, but the best our rulers can do is to beg for talks with them rather than trying to establish rule of law and the writ of the state.
As if all the corruption and nepotism are not enough to mint money, many of our politicians now patronise organised crime and mafias. Karachi – Pakistan’s main financial and commercial hub – is a living example of how the unholy nexus between crime and politics wrecks the economic potential and prospects of a city that could play a lead role providing new jobs and triggering growth in the country.
Our persistent dilemma is that many of the life and death issues that confront the nation do not appear to be among the top priorities of our successive rulers. They do pay lip service to these causes, but when it comes to matching their words with action, they miserably fail.
The priorities of our ruling political elite appear all skewed. Their narrative is dominated by the false interpretation of national honour, misplaced notions of religion, giving centrality to US drone attacks on terrorists, and many non-issues which won’t be worthy of a footnote in history. 
Rather than addressing the causes of conflicts and contradictions within society, they are wrestling with symptoms. As a local saying goes: rather than removing the dead dog they are pulling out buckets of water from the well thinking that it would do the trick and clean up the mess. 
Amidst all this, life for a common Pakistani is a living ordeal. A vast number of Pakistanis remain denied of their fundamental rights starting from safety of life and property to those of education, health and employment. 
No wonder, for Pakistani babies born in 2013 and beyond, the state has only to offer an unwelcoming and brutalised society. Peace, prosperity, and happiness will remain elusive for our children as we have created a society where violence, extremism and lawlessness are rife.
It is understandable why Pakistan is branded among the high risk countries. It is teetering at the brink of chaos, anarchy and social and political unrest, because of the apathy of the ruling classes, their inability to make intellectually right choices and take tough decisions.
As another year nearly draws to an end, many Pakistanis prepare to brace the New Year without a song in their hearts or a sparkle in their souls. They face an uncertain future and testing times ahead on every front.
Will 2014 prove any better? Will Pakistan be able to rein in terrorists and extremists? Will extortionists, kidnappers, robbers and drug peddlers allow us to breathe easy? Will we be able to beat corruption and nepotism? Will Pakistan start its journey towards creating a more just and humane society that ensures that every child goes to school and does not have to toil in the labour market? Will our rulers be able to provide clean water, better healthcare and sanitation to the masses?
These are only questions. Who has the answers?
The new year again provides an opportunity to make a fresh resolve and set the direction for change – a change for the better – and pull the country out from the list that ranks us as among the worst.

Living On Controversies

By Amir Zia
Friday, December 28, 2013
The News

With friends like Chaudhry Nisar and Ishaq Dar, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan do not need any enemies. The bitter and angry duo has mastered the art of damaging Pakistan’s interest through their recklessness.

Initially, the barrage of statements fired almost on a daily basis by the two main pillars of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s cabinet used to appear shocking, but now one finds them more and more farcical. While Sharif – in his third stint as prime minister – has learned to speak with restraint and in a measured tone at least in public, two of his top guns – Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar – are running amok.
The duo is creating controversies where ideally there should be none. They are bombastic and verbose where economy of words is required. They are emotional and melodramatic where level-headedness and self-control remain the need of the hour. They tend to defy logic and common sense for their love of exaggeration and thunderous posturing.
In a nutshell, their common dilemma, like many other Pakistani politicians, remains that they speak too much and love to play to the gallery. In opposition, perhaps a politician can get away with irresponsible statements, but when in power, words matter and they have consequences and repercussions for the country. A fact that hardly seems to matter for the two ministers who have a penchant for shooting emotionally-loaded and ill-timed statements. The lure of microphones and the spotlight of the 24/7 television cameras keep them going.
If Dar had the cheek to tip the currency dealers that the dollar would slide in the local market, therefore they should sell their greenback stocks to prevent losses without taking into account the meagre foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan, the interior minister remains fond of giving long sermons to Washington and speaking freely on issues from Pakistan-US relations to Bangladesh’s recent hanging to death of a Jamaat-e-Islami leader on war crime charges – matters which should be better left for the foreign ministry to deal with.
One day we find the finance minister vowing to get every cent out of the Washington’s pocket due under the coalition support fund (CSF), the other Nisar Ali Khan castigating the Obama administration for what he believes as sabotaging the ‘peace talks’ with the Al Qaeda-inspired local militants responsible for the killing of thousands of innocent civilians and security personnel in terrorist attacks and suicide bombings across Pakistan.
“Time to choose dollar or honour”, Nisar Ali Khan said in one of his many passionate statements. But ironically his display of bravado appears hollow.
In the world of politics and game of power theatrics are often self-defeating and a reflection of immaturity of personality and of untutored minds. The power of silence is as important as the eloquence of speech that calls for action, mobilises the people and raises the spirit of nations to perform magnificent feats. Yes, great minds and astute politicians weigh their words before they speak – even in public oratory.
However, discretion and caution don’t appear to be a forte of Chaudhry Nisar. On the floor of parliament, he went all out to slam Bangladesh over the hanging of Abdul Quader Mollah, calling it his sacred duty as a Muslim to do so. Earlier, the Foreign Office rightly declared it an internal matter of Bangladesh, but then who can stop our interior minister from speaking on an issue where he had to keep his mouth shut. He had to swank his bravado and holier than thou mentality in parliament. Perhaps Chaudhry Nisar should be a satisfied Muslim now as his reckless speech contributed in triggering anti-Pakistan riots in Bangladesh. Should one congratulate him over this feat?
And this is not the first time that the interior minister intruded in the domain of the Foreign Office and tried to set the tone of diplomacy. Who can forget Chaudhry Sahib’s emotional performance both at the press conference and in parliament when he mourned the killing of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Hakeemullah Mehsud in a US drone attack last month.
If Chaudhry Nisar is to be believed, Pakistan lost its best bet for peace in the country, conveniently ignoring that in November 2009 Pakistani authorities offered a reward of Rs50 million for any information leading to the arrest or killing of Hakeemullah Mehsud who was responsible for a string of bombings and suicide attacks across Pakistan. Perhaps Washington should ask the Sharif government to pay the bounty money as promised or deduct that amount from its assistance to Pakistan.
Nisar’s anti-US posture provided the stage where Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf managed to go a step forward and block Nato supplies going through Pakistan to Afghanistan. It is yet another matter that the mighty Khan placed himself in a hole by resorting to the blockade, which threatens the much-needed US aid and payments for the coalition support fund to Pakistan and testing its ties with the 28-nation bloc of Nato nations.
As if this was not enough, the interior minister ridiculed his own government’s Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz when another US drone attack killed six people including three militants belonging to the Haqqani network in Hangu; the minister accused Washington of sabotaging the dream peace talks with the militants.
With the hard-line cleric Mullah Fazlullah now in command of the TTP, militants have responded to the government’s mantra of talks by action. A truck loaded with explosives rammed into a military check post in Mir Ali, North Waziristan killing five soldiers and wounding more than 40 earlier this month. Foreign and local militants fought pitched battles with the security forces following this incident in which the death toll has crossed well over 50 in just two days. Yet our interior minister fails to see the writing on the wall.
With the country’s foreign exchange reserves barely enough to meet its three weeks of import bill and the economy at the brink of a balance of payment crisis, Pakistan certainly does not need the American dollars going by interior minister’s statement. Pakistan can survive and live happily ever after on Chaudhry Nisar’s highly misplaced notion of national honour, the Mullah Fazlullah-led TTP, vast stretch of its territory under the control of foreign and local terrorists, exploding bombs and killing civilians and security personnel when they want.
With friends like Chaudhry Nisar and Ishaq Dar, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan do not need any enemies. The bitter and angry duo has mastered the art of damaging Pakistan’s interest through their recklessness. Many of the controversies triggered by the two ministers can easily be avoided if saner minds and moderate personalities are holding such important portfolios.
If Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wants to realise his vision of turning around the country’s economy, building trust and friendship with neighbours and world powers including the United States and establish rule of law and writ of the state, he has first to pick the right individuals for these jobs; those who can control the demons of their emotions, impotent rage and resist temptations of speaking too much and too loud.
Is Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) that barren that it can’t come up with better substitutes?

Delusion Versus Reality

By Amir Zia

Monday, December 9, 2013

The News 
The lull in killings that followed the start of the Karachi operation is part of the old pattern in which after every spike in violence there comes a similar period of relative calm. 

Despite the three-month long continuing operation against criminals and terrorists, Karachi remains as dangerous and lawless as ever. Refuse to accept what many of our top government officials want us to believe – that the operation has brought the crime rate down and managed to rein in killers, extortionists, drug peddlers and robbers.

Our rulers live in a make-believe world. They wear rose-tinted glasses and feel safe in their bubble. The high walls of official residences, siren-hooting motorcades and empty roads – where no trespassing is allowed when the lords and masters of today’s Pakistan move from one place to another – make everything around them appear hunky-dory.

But the rough and tough real world of Karachi’s ordinary citizens is unsafe and treacherous. In this world, killing and being killed by a bullet is far easier than getting an appointment from a doctor at a government health facility or enrollment of your child in school. Whatever the government statistics may claim, here killers strike at will. Assassins come, shoot and simply walk away. The business of killing has become as simple as that.

The first six days of December are enough to put a big hole in the grand delusion that the Karachi operation is heading in the right direction. These six days saw more than three dozen people shot to death in various parts of the city. December 3 proved the worst, a day on which more than a dozen people were killed. The list of victims included Sunni and Shia clerics, seminary students, policemen, political activists and several ordinary citizens. 

Let the top police and rangers officials bask in the glory of ‘successful raids’ by their men, which led to the arrests of over 10,000 suspects and seizure of a huge number of weapons. The chest-thumping done by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his talented Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and bigwigs of the provincial government fails to alter the ground reality where the non-state actors have greater control over violence, which should ideally be the prerogative of the state.

Despite the operation, assassins have effectively managed to underline the bitter fact that the police and the Rangers are not the masters of the situation in this teeming port city.

The lull in killings that followed the start of the Karachi operation is part of the old pattern in which after every spike in violence there comes a similar period of relative calm. Haven’t Karachi-ites seen this before?

The players and faces of executioners change and new brutal forces join in the game of death, pushing lawlessness to the next higher level. But what doesn’t changes is the state’s inability and unwillingness to deal with the challenge. As a result Karachi – with its myriad ethnic, sectarian, social, economic and political conflicts and contradictions – now seems to be resting on a gunpowder keg which can ignite and explode anytime.

The state institutions are on the back foot. After every fresh bout of violence, they either get into a fire-fighting mode or prefer to take a backseat and let the conflict temporarily subside on its own. In both these cases, the root causes of the strife remain unaddressed. 

Take for example the issue of sectarian killings. The security forces do arrest notorious militants, but they are seldom brought to justice because of weak investigations, poor prosecution and a highly flawed judicial system. These convicted operate terror networks from prisons against the backdrop of an ill-judged moratorium on hanging placed by the previous government in 2008. 

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government continued with the cessation in hanging in the larger interest of convicts. In today’s Pakistan, convicted murderers have human rights, but those they kill – and their families – have none. They are just forgotten to appease the European Union, the rights groups and the outlawed terror organisations.

This is only one aspect of the problem. The state and its institutions also fail to act against those nurseries which produce the extremist mindset. Pulpits and seminaries continue to operate unregulated. The current government has gone an extra mile to appease extremists by its desperation to hold talks with the Al-Qaeda-inspired local Taliban. No wonder, our security forces do not know whether to treat these forces as friends or foes. The security apparatus stands paralysed thanks to the confusion brought about by the mantra of talks by the right-wing religious opposition and even the government’s stalwarts – foremost among them being our interior minister.

When the man in charge of the country’s internal security fails to recognise threat and give direction, it would be unjust to blame the security agencies at his command to do the needful. The same is the case with militants affiliated with political and mainstream religious parties. They also benefit from the shortcomings of the prosecution and the judicial system.

Political considerations prevent security officials from going for a decisive action. The so-called operations and crackdowns are carried out in fits and starts. Policing gets further compromised when sitting provincial ministers patronise ring leaders of extortionist and criminal mafias. 

Let’s not forget the banned Peoples’ Amn Committee of Lyari and its ties with some of the stalwarts of the Pakistan People’s Party. No wonder the committee’s top-gun Uzair Baloch escapes abroad so easily. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement, despite its emphatic lip-service on breaking ties with militancy, continues to harbour militants under its wings. 

There are a few things that never change. The Awami National Party, the Sunni Tehreek, the Jamaat-e-Islami and several others including Sindhi nationalist parties all have armed gangs at their disposal and many of them directly involved in crime and terrorism.

To add to this problem is the fact that authorities are seen as unfair players in Karachi’s cauldron. The PPP now represents the interests of the rural ruling class. Most of its actions – including continuously framing and changing laws to make the local bodies as ineffective as possible; supporting one gang of outlaws to counter the muscle power of the MQM; and heavily biased structure of provincial taxation – are seen to be against the interest of the urban population.

Unfortunately the PPP leadership is perceived as too self-serving and corrupt to manage the affairs of Karachi fairly. The police and other agencies at the provincial government’s disposal get tainted and their actions become controversial because of the trust gap between the rulers and the ruled. Disconnect between the government and aspirations of the people remains a major stumbling block in dealing with crime and terrorism in the city. 

The multitude of social problems and vast economic disparities only makes the Karachi challenge more complex and grave. They provide readymade ingredients, which allow crime mafias and terrorist networks to thrive and expand. 

The crisis in Karachi can still be managed, but it requires difficult decisions. The police force needs to be free from political pressures. It should be seen as a neutral player, working for the supremacy and rule of law rather than the whims of ministers and for advancing their political goals.
Along with a crackdown on criminals and terrorists, there is a need to clean the grounds that breed them. This requires investment in education and economic and social uplift. The government needs to do away with the dichotomy in law by lifting the moratorium on the death penalty. This will help in establishing the writ of the state and prevent private vendetta. Judicial reforms for quick dispensation of justice also remain long overdue. They should be high on the priority list.

The most important step is the introduction of an effective and powerful local governance system, which our major political parties love to hate since it erodes their power and clout. But for a pro-people democratic order, powerful local bodies are a must. Are the elected representatives in the mood to do the needful? So far all indications are negative. They appear content to live in their delusionary world as Karachi suffers and remains caught in the vortex of lawlessness and disorder.