Hope at Bonn

INITIAL reports coming out of Bonn are positive. The four groups attending the crucial talks seem to have agreed on the need for a broad-based government in Afghanistan. This is, however, the ultimate aim. The big question is whether the groups will also be able to agree on how to go about it. The UN-approved plan seeks to give Afghanistan a broad-based government in stages. Phase one visualizes the establishment of a provisional council that will guide the country through an interim phase. The original UN plan had visualized a two-year tenure for this interim council. However, on Tuesday, a UN spokesman in Bonn reduced the period to six months, or even less. This provisional council will pave the way for a broader “Interim Administration of Afghanistan” — a sort of parliament. This will be followed by the convening of an Emergency Loya Jirga. This body — a council of elders — will be charged with the task of framing a new constitution. According to UN sources, it is most likely to meet in March next.

While one should not be unduly optimistic about the outcome of the conference, certain hopeful developments can be noted. One is the delegates’ resolve to wrap up the talks in three to five days. No one has given them this time-frame, and a UN spokesman said the four delegations themselves decided to finish the talks early. Perhaps the tone for the conference was set by the Northern Alliance’s Younis Qanooni, who said his group was not seeking to monopolize power. More important, he seemed to show an awareness of Afghanistan’s backwardness when he said it was the delegates’ responsibility to work to take their country out of the mediaeval times. More important, James Dobbins, America’s special envoy on Afghanistan, said all the delegates told him that they would accept Zahir Shah as a figurehead for the interim set-up. If this is true, then a major obstacle in the way of moving toward a broad-based government has been removed.

Pakistan is among those who are attending the conference as observers. Which is nothing special, because seventeen other nations, including India, are there. However, given Pakistan’s special relationship with Afghanistan, Islamabad should keep itself fully engaged with all the delegates, and not just the Pakhtoon groups. Obviously, the kind of interim set-up Afghanistan will have is likely to have a profound impact on Islamabad’s relationship with Kabul. Mercifully, the signals coming from the Northern Alliance are quite positive. “President” Burhanuddin has already met some Pakistani officials in Dubai, and he told reporters he had plans to meet President Musharraf “in the very near future.” More surprising was the tribute he paid to Pakistan. “We will never forget,” he said, “the help of Pakistan in the past. We are ready to cooperate and eager to strengthen our relationship” with it.

Pakistan should reciprocate Rabbani’s feeling. The new set-up may not be headed by him, but Rabbani’s Northern Alliance and he himself will be an important component of it. Besides, his overtures also give Pakistan a chance to correct the imbalance in its policy, which had relied too heavily on the Pakhtoons, especially the Taliban breed.A Pakistan-friendly Rabbani can be a major asset for Islamabad.

Riot or massacre?

NOW that the guns have fallen silent at the Qala-i-Jangi fortress, an extremely disturbing picture is beginning to emerge of the bloody three-day showdown at the makeshift prison on the outskirts of Mazar-i-Sharif. As many as 600 pro-Taliban prisoners, more than 100 Northern Alliance troops and at least one US official are believed to have been killed in the battle, which was first described as a prison riot and then upgraded to the status of a revolt. The most disturbing aspect of the entire episode was the use of military aircraft to quell the riot. The spectacle of US planes bombing a prison where hundreds of prisoners of war were incarcerated was the most bizarre instance of overkill in a war where a sense of proportion has been conspicuous by its absence. US planes launched at least 30 sorties during the stand-off and were provided support by dozens of its operatives on the ground.

Two conclusions can be drawn from the use of such heavy-handed tactics. First, the Northern Alliance fighting machine is remarkably ineffecient and requires heavy US aerial cover before it can make a move. The other conclusion is more sinister: was the entire exercise allowed to get out of control so that the Taliban prisoners, most of whom were foreign fighters who are the scourge of both the US and the Northern Alliance, could be wiped out? There are statements attributed to both US and Northern Alliance leaders stating that it would be better to kill off the foreign Taliban fighters than allow them to escape.

It is time to get to the truth behind this latest slaughter as well as other similar incidents such as the massacre of some one hundred foreign fighters, mostly Pakistanis, following the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif. The UN and other human rights groups must urgently launch a wide-ranging inquiry into these bloody episodes and punish those found responsible for the atrocities. A failure to act decisively will leave the US and its allies open to the charge of championing human rights and justice only when it suits their cause.

Death on the road

THE death of 20 people in a traffic accident near Thatta serves to remind us just how dangerous road travel in Pakistan has become. Over 7,000 people die in traffic accidents every year in the country, the majority in mishaps involving buses, coaches or trucks and usually taking place on inter-city or inter-provincial roads. Even in cities like Karachi, accidents involving public transport vehicles account for a disproportionately high rate of fatalities. For example, while such vehicles make up less than five per cent of the city’s vehicle population of roughly one million, they account for over 70 per cent of all fatal accidents. Clearly, the government has its work cut out in this regard. Some time back, a national highway safety ordinance was promulgated, putting speeding limits on roads, guidelines for vehicle maintenance and use, and heavy fines for violators. Unfortunately, like most laws this, too, has yet to be implemented with any kind of seriousness.

This particular accident happened as a bus, loaded with passengers bound for Hyderabad, overtook a truck and in the process collided head-on with a bus coming from the opposite direction. Had the highway been a dual carriageway perhaps this accident would have never occurred. However, that is precisely why we need to enforce traffic laws in a resource-scarce country like Pakistan. Since public transport vehicles are behind the majority of fatal accidents, those who drive them need to be particularly targeted. A continuing campaign to make road users and motorists aware of the traffic rules and regulations needs to be initiated. This, together with a harsh clampdown on all errant drivers, might just see a fall in traffic fatalities. As far as the long term is concerned, a permanent reduction is tied closely to increasing literacy and fostering a respect for human life.