| October 27, 2001 | Saturday | Shaba'an 9, 1422 |
Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)
DPs in distress
As earth heats up
GOING by the number of resolutions passed and the size of the assemblage, the two-day convention of some 1,500 Afghan elders, tribal leaders, mujahideen commanders and notables at Peshawar can be taken to have been a notable success, but it was not, for the simple reason that it was ill-timed. What is more, despite the sizable attendance, the meeting lacked a representative character which alone could have invested its proceedings with the force of a worthy lead to the future political dispensation in Afghanistan. Barring that, the convention went through the usual motions of debates, discussions and consensus-building. As expected, the resolutions passed at the meeting cover a wide range of issues concerning Afghanistan and understandably focus on the need for accelerating the political process for tackling the Afghan situation. One resolution correctly points out that the Anglo-American military action may result in the fall of the Taliban regime, thereby creating a political vacuum which may lead to further anarchy and violence. For that reason, the convention appealed to Afghan factions to stop fighting and called upon the US and its allies to halt the military operation in order to pave the way for a political solution. Organized by the Assembly for Peace and National Unity of Afghanistan (Apnau), the convention sought the help of the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Conference in convening a Loya Jirga to help produce a truly representative future government for Afghanistan. It also asked former king Zahir Shah and other “moderate” leaders to play their due role in a post-war Afghanistan.
It now remains to be seen what impact the Peshawar proceedings have on the elements and sections of opinion that matter. As noted earlier, a basic limiting factor is that the convention did not have a truly representative character. None from the Northern Alliance was there, nor anyone from among the “moderate Taliban.” More important, Zahir Shah did not choose to send his representative to the conference. This makes Apnau’s claim to be a representative gathering of the Afghan people unrealistic. In fact, one of Zahir Shah’s unnamed supporters, now in Quetta, termed the Peshawar gathering as a meeting of “fundamentalists and terrorists.” In view of this, one wonders what practical purpose the convention served in relation to the objectives outlined in its resolutions.
It is significant that the US had tried to discourage the holding of such a convention. As Colin Powell informed a House committee, Pakistani officials had been told that such a meeting would not be wise at this stage. On the other hand, he pointed out that a more important Afghan meeting was to take place in Istanbul, and that it was to be attended, among others, by the representatives of the Northern Alliance. In fact, one reason for America’s reservations about the convention was the absence of any Northern Alliance representatives at Peshawar.
It is time Pakistan realized the hazards of trying to unduly influence the course of events in Afghanistan or the process of government formation there. Ultimately, only a government which enjoys the support of all major sections of the Afghans themselves will prove viable. This presupposes a consensus not only among all Afghan factions but also among Afghanistan’s neighbours. So far, very little has been achieved in this direction. A prolongation of the military operation without a concurrent political effort is hardly likely to bring peace to Afghanistan or end the miseries of its people. Wisdom demands that Pakistan should monitor the Istanbul moot carefully and coordinate its efforts with Turkey with the common objective of giving Afghanistan a truly broad-based and neutral government that could fill the post-Taliban vacuum, ensure peace and initiate the process of reconstruction.
AS the US-led attacks on Afghanistan continue, days go by and the mercury takes a deeper plunge at night, the Pak-Afghan border at Chaman is seeing an increasing number of desperate, hungry and harassed displaced persons (DPs) waiting to be let into Pakistan. The border remains officially closed to refugees, except the sick and elderly women and children, or those carrying proper travel documents. The number of DPs across the border swelled to several thousand a few days ago, and many desperate people had to storm the Pakistani check post to push their way through. The Pishin Scouts and the Taliban border security forces even fired in the air to disperse the crowd but to no avail. Acute human misery and desperation can lead people to extreme action, especially if there is no flicker of hope at the end of a dark tunnel in which these unfortunate DPs are caught.
The international community and the United Nations have been urging Pakistan to throw its borders open for the fleeing DPs, but have done little in terms of providing logistic or monetary assistance to help Pakistan cope with the expected high influx of DPs. As the winter approaches, the number of DPs inside Afghanistan is expected to rise to 1.5 million, half of whom will enter Pakistan through Chaman. Clearly, Pakistan does not have the resources needed to take care of such a large number of DPs. The UN and the World Food Programme, if they are serious about their professed concerns, would do well to set up special camps along the Pakistan-Afghan border, so as to provide the necessary humanitarian aid and shelter to these people at the earliest. Indeed, in an ideal situation, all such humanitarian assistance should be made available to the war-ravaged and destitute people inside Afghanistan. After all, the on-going war on terrorism has the backing of the UN; it is only fit that the world organization and its subsidiaries were activated to deal with the consequences of this war.
SOME of the worst fears about global warming may be coming true, according to two recently published reports. Scientists have recorded an alarming rise in temperatures across various regions of the globe which threaten to set off an unpredictable chain of events. If current trends continue, this could spell disaster for many parts of the world. Melting icebergs, rapidly rising sea levels and the perils to low-lying regions — these are some of the better known consequences of global warming. However, the phenomenon may also have more far-reaching consequences. According to scientists, it is already possible to see significant changes in plant and animal life cycles as a direct consequence of global warming. For example, in the Mediterranean region, leaves of certain deciduous plants now unfold 16 days earlier than they did 50 years ago. Meanwhile, the autumnal shedding of leaves now occurs some 13 days later than five decades ago. These changes, in turn, have triggered behavioural changes in animal, bird and insect populations, upsetting the delicate natural ecological balance.
This could spell disaster for certain species. For example, migratory birds that winter in the tropics could set off for northern breeding grounds at inappropriate times and end up competing with other forms of wildlife. These findings offer considerable food for thought for the climate treaty negotiators assembling in Morocco from October 29. Their task is to translate the agreement on the Kyoto protocol into legal text. Once this is done, countries can formally ratify the troubled treaty which had to be considerably watered down to meet Washington’s approval. The nations of the world must now unite and rapidly move towards halting a process that threatens to destroy the earth we live in.