AT the height of the post-Partition Hindu-Muslim riots, Asrarul Haq Majaz, a legendary poet of the freedom struggle but known today, if at all, as the maternal uncle of Javed Akhtar, was asked by the Communist Party of India to take shelter in a friendly Hindu dharmshala of Mumbai. He was advised to hide there with his other colleagues from the progressive writers group, including Sardar Jafri, Kaifi Azmi and perhaps Banney Bhai aka Sajjad Zahir, too.

They were all supposed to pretend to be Saryupaari and Kannauji Brahmins and it seemed easy to do that since they all came from the Avadh region of what is now Uttar Pradesh, heartland of a remarkable variety of the erstwhile priestly class. They could all speak the Avadhi dialect of Tulsidas with facility, knew more about the legend of Lord Rama and even of the more involved Hindu traditions than many Hindus themselves would be familiar with.

But something was to go wrong anyway. And so, after the priest at the dharmshala welcomed the horde of masquerading Brahmins, and they had sat down for tea, the portly pundit turned to Majaz and asked: “So, sir, you are a Saryupaari Brahmin? So am I. And what may your gotra be, sir?” Majaz, usually a great wit, lost his speech, spat out the sip of tea in his mouth and wondered aloud to himself, in chaste Urdu mind you: “Ma’az Allah, Ismey gotra bhi hota hai?” (Goodness gracious, why didn’t they warn me about this gotra business too?)

The complex skein of Hindu social order, whose yet one more hidden strand was casually re-discovered by Majaz in 1947, is not any more complicated than what obtains among Muslims, Christians, Jews, even Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs in India today. If I have left out any religion, you may include that too in this argument and it wouldn’t alter much. Therefore, in discussing the cut and thrust of Islam during the passing year, it would be prudent to keep an eye on what was happening that was different with other religions.

The fact is that there is a rightwing thrust across the world today, and that includes the world of Islam. If we take a cursory look at our own neighbourhood, and see the governments that are in charge of a billion plus people, it would not be difficult to come back to the issue at hand, wither Islam? Ranil Wickremasinghe, represents the Buddhist right, the new king of Nepal is by no means a dyed-in-the-wool centrist. Begum Khaleda Zia, leaning heavily on the Muslim clergy for support and our own Atal Behari Vajpayee, all have one thing in common — they represent strong rightward-leaning religious lobbies although in my humble but potentially unpopular opinion in India, President Pervez Musharraf seems to challenge the pattern. This was made amply clear by his landmark and globally watched address on Saturday.

So Gen Musharraf is a rare exception to this generally overarching pattern of religious metaphor intruding into the body politics of nations which no doubt adds to the chagrin of his many detractors, including the ones in India. (It must surely be rightwing opinion that gets worried at the thought of Gen Musharraf’s unravelling of the religious obscurantist agenda of Gen Ziaul Haq.) Look beyond the region and you would perhaps notice that the ascendance of President George W. Bush and the decay of the British Labour Party into some kind of ideological rudderlessness are by no means signs of more tolerant and open societies ahead. Religious intolerance has seen war and persecution in Europe.

Anti-Semitism was one such reflection of predominantly Christian Europe not anywhere else. And be sure that it wasn’t Adolf Hitler, but more genial people like William Shakespeare who popularized and sustained this hatred of Jews for centuries. It may sound banal, and I confess it may even be a crass analogy, but it remains a fact in more ways than one that the anti-Semitic Nazis were essentially Christian Germans, who were eventually defeated not by a determined Jewish resistance, but by the overwhelming force of a Christian Britain and a Christian United States.

In India today, the rightwing thrust of Hindu nationalists, including some very menacing self-pronounced zealots, is not being stalled so much by Muslims, Christians or other assorted minorities as by the majority Hindus themselves. In Sri Lanka, too, a complete and brazen domination of Hindu and Christian Tamils by the majority Buddhist Sinhalese could not have been thwarted without very influential saner voices within the predominantly Sinhalese formations.

And yet there is a rising tide of religious atavism right across the world. What could be giving rise to it? Or is there something peculiar about Islam that we should guard against in particular? Or is it possible that “fundamentalism” is actually the natural progression of orthodox believers, including Muslims? If not, could it be a calibrated, cynical and deliberately crafted new ideology that uses religion as a vehicle, regardless of which religion, as long as the objective to crush a more liberal and socially fair world order is achieved?

For all practical purposes the word fundamentalist originated in the energy shock of 1973 when the Arab countries discovered oil embargo against the West as a weapon to bring their quarry to their knees. It is here at this stage that we have to take note of the other linkages in the drama. For example, the Vietnam war was not going too well for the United States and in fact the 1973 oil crisis and the Arab-Israeli war that triggered it had a clear if understated hand in the ignominy for Washington in 1975 in Saigon.

In the Middle East, during this phase of Arab politics, the leading voices against Israel and its Western supporters had little or nothing to do with Islam. It was an Arab-Jewish or as the Arabs prefer to say Arab-Zionist standoff in which the leading lights were leftist groups of Palestinians and completely secular groups from other frontline states. Leila Khaled, for example, who became the world’s first woman hijacker when she commandeered an Israeli plane, no less, in 1968 was the member of the communist PFLP group of Palestinians.

The secular imprint on the Palestinian movement was so strong in the early days that even Yasser Arafat, a product of the truly reactionary Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt, could become acceptable as its leader only after taking a secular position, not an Islamic one, as even recently partly reflected in his quest to go to Bethlehem for Christmas.

The factors that forced a secular movement of the Palestinians to find itself inexorably overwhelmed by rightwing religious movements like the Hamas are not different from the ones that marginalized a secular, albeit leftist, uprising against the Shah of Iran, a feature that repeated itself in Afghanistan with minor variations and a longer time-table for creating right royal religious chaos.

The finger of suspicion points to the role of the United States. Indeed there’s no suspicion, it’s an accepted fact. In 1998, former US national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski told Le Nouvel Observateur that he persuaded president Jimmy Carter to create the Mujahideen in 1979, with the goal of “drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap.”

Asked how he could justify the subsequent collapse of any government in Kabul and the Taliban takeover, Brzezinski said: “What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Muslims or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?” History will judge. Is the Northern Alliance of non-Pakhtoons not crammed with former religious zealots of the Mujahideen days? And was it not the Pakhtoons who were fighting for a secular Pakhtoonistan not too long ago, with a little bit of help here and there from the Soviet Union and India?

What Brzezinski achieved so cynically at a global level, Indian politicians have been busy crafting for decades at a smaller but equally vicious scale at home. The kind of support that orthodox and often reactionary Muslim bodies get from the state, not just the governments of the day, in their political calculations does not require mention here.

For its short-term gains, the state of India has systematically eroded its secular foundations to make room for the more pliable and manoeuvrable social groups at the cost of the liberal silent majority. That’s one of the many heavy costs we have to pay for the running of this behemoth called the world’s largest democracy. Muslim vote, Christian vote, Hindu vote, Dalit vote, and then we have Jat vote, Gujar vote, Paasi vote, Shia vote, Sunni vote.

But look closely again, for example, at the Muslims of India and you would perhaps notice that not only are they varied in regional cultures, well beyond the grasp of ordinary parliamentarians, but are religiously rooted in sects with diverse agendas, that include Wahhabis, Ahle Hadis, Deobandis, Nadwat-ul-Ulema, Tablighi Jamaats, Jamiat Ulema-I-Hind, Jamaat-i-Islami, Barelwis, Shias, Ismailis and why not even Qadianis. All or anyone of them could have inspired Akbar Ilahabadi, himself an orthodox Muslim, to guffaw thus:

“Wo miss boli ke main milwaa to deti apney father se; magar tume Alla Alla karta hai, paagal ka maafiq hai.”

Why single out Osama bin Laden for madness? As Fidel Castro said: “The more the world moves to the right, the more leftist I look, without even budging an inch from my original stance.” Gen Musharraf’s crackdown on Muslim extremists in his country could be the trigger to check this global drift to the right.

FOR a variety of reasons, incompetence and inefficiency reigned supreme in Balochistan till recently. As the province is backward, it was ruled by elements, both locals and aliens, who had their own axe to grind. The politics of vote banks or secured political constituencies with an army of public servants were the additional reasons under a political government.

Politicians or political groups ruled this province for less than 10 years. For the remaining period, the bureaucracy, both military and civil, ruled supreme since the creation of Pakistan. Even during a political rule, police action continued for years and more than once took away the decision-making power from the civilians. The other provinces enjoyed a quasi-political government ruled by their chosen representatives under Ayub Khan or Z. A. Bhutto.

All decision-makers made unguarded attempts to recruit as many people in the administration as they could. Some ministers and secretaries of the administrative departments were able to auction posts at the cost of administrative efficiency.

The Regional Accountability Bureau detected many cases of corruption, besides others, in which government jobs were sold or given to the highest bidders. In the present accountability process some of the people were found guilty in the courts of law. Once the dismissed provincial government had to face an embarrassing situation when it was proved that members of the Public Service Commission had taken money for selecting assistant commissioners.

One of the most corrupt officials of the food department, at present behind the bars, bought posts of assistant commissioners for his two sons. “I have enough money and now I need prestige,” he offered a handsome amount to a former member of the BPSC for posts of ACs for his sons. The previous PML government thought it expedient to regularize the dubious selection despite a massive uproar in the province.

In the backdrop of corruption in recruiting people for government jobs, the decision of the federal government to grant autonomy to the Federal Public Service Commission was well received. They hoped that the Balochistan Public Service Commission would too get complete autonomy, ending the stranglehold of the bureaucracy on this vital institution.

With the army taking over the administration in 1999, the government replaced the entire team of the Balochistan Public Service Commission and appointed a group of retired educationists and officers of integrity.

There are reports from credible sources that the government is ready to grant complete autonomy to the BPSC. Local newspapers carried a story when the chairman and members of the BPSC met the governor who had reportedly agreed to grant autonomy to the BPSC on the pattern of high courts or the superior judiciary.

At present, the BPSC is dependent on the provincial finance department for release of funds for holding examinations, purchasing stationery, preparing examination papers, paying the examiners, etc. The department of services and general administration is exercising full control over the administrative affairs — whether it is the provision of an official car or POL.

Official circles are still insisting that a sitting senior bureaucrat should be appointed as BPSC chairman, retaining the administrative control. On the other hand, the governor, who is also the chief executive of the province, did not agree to it and reportedly told a delegation that the BPSC would exercise autonomy. The proposed draft law granting autonomy to the BPSC is pending with the provincial law department.

Under the proposed law, the chairman will be appointed on a contract basis for five years. He must be a retired official or an educationist and should not be a serving officer. The same will be the case with the appointment of other members. The purpose is to keep the institution away from the influence of bureaucrats, official sources said.

Its own building is under construction in Shahbaz Town in Quetta. It is a three-storey building catering to the basic requirements of the BPSC. It has two big examination halls on the top floor with a separate entrance so that the candidates should not enter the administrative and other blocks. The building is being constructed at a cost of Rs38 million. The provincial government plans to complete the construction by next year.

At present the BPSC is facing a number of challenges in coming up to the expectations of the people. It has conducted examination for over 500 doctors and made a transparent selection. Even the members did not know that two nephews of the chairman had also appeared in the examination but they did not qualify for the interview.

With the devolution of powers from the province to the district government, the department of planning has suggested creation of two special cadre of development planners and finance managers for the district governments all over the province.

The ACS, Development, Mir Ahmed Bakhsh Lehri, has suggested creation of 100 posts for meeting the future requirements of the district governments. Twelve posts will be on general merit at the provincial level and others on the basis of district quota within the province. Examiners and paper-setters are being selected through a ballot so that examinations are held with the maximum care to check a possible leakage.

The BPSC conducted the examination for tehsildars recently. Some 2,500 candidates appeared and only 124 qualified the written tests. Those qualified included doctors, engineers, post- graduates and also those who appeared in the superior service or competitive examinations in the past. There are only 24 posts for which the interviews will be held.

The most interesting aspect is that hundreds of posts of senior teachers are lying vacant. Candidates are no more interested in being teachers. Naturally, they will not be manning the ghost schools as was done in the past. On the contrary, a previous political government had appointed hundreds of teachers on political consideration. Since the World Bank finances the primary education project in Balochistan, it applied its veto power asking the government to dismiss all the illiterate teachers — some of them did not know how to read and write.

In the case of nurses, the BPSC is observing the national merit for recruitment of candidates. It is accepting candidates from all over Pakistan and selecting them on the basis of general merit.

WITH the implementation of the devolution plan at the district level, the local people are much optimist about the revival of the sick industrial units. The local governments can benefit a lot in term of generating local revenues for running the local administration and, on other hand, the economic uplift at the local level can raise the standard of life of the people.

The fate of the Shahdadkot Textile Mills hangs in the balance since its closure. The mill was established in 1976 in the backward area of Shahdadkot, which is geographically adjacent to the Balochistan province. The mill started its production in 1980 but could only continue its production till April 1988. The closure of the mill is blamed on the scarcity of working capital, recurring losses and corruption.

However, after its closure from 1988 to 1994, the spinning section of the mill was reactivated during 1994-1995. The government provided an assistance of Rs51.5 million for BMR and working capital requirements. The mill then started picking up, and the yarn production remained encouraging up to 1998-99. But later on the go-slow with the yarn production was maintained to meet the market requirements.

The trouble with the mill is that it is situated in a remote area where there is neither the facility of raw material nor is there available any market for finished products. The PIDC had always been critical of the unskilled mill hands which it had regarded as an obstacle in the running of the mill, though the labour leaders had vehemently contested this view. They would call this a calculated attempt by the management to disown their responsibility.

The mill is reported to have incurred extra amount on transportation of raw material and its finished products. That is the snag that was not considered while the mill was to be operated in the remote area of Sindh. Now the mill is facing trouble because of bad planning.

Basically, it was started to beat unemployment at the local level and to train, in due course, the unskilled hands into skilled labour. The plan was thus a good start as the mill drew its strength from the local people. At present 1,000 people are employed by the mill which is indirectly providing a means of subsistence to over 5,000 people of the adjoining area.

When the mill was re-started in 1994, it had greatly influenced the development of the city: new shops, rice mills, flour mills, etc, had sprung up, presenting a healthy economic scenario. On the whole, the city was on the way to progress and development, but with the closure of the mill the lives of about 5,000 persons are at stake.

Now this unit of the PIDC is put on the liquidation list. The closure would adversely affect local development. The situation can be reversed if such units are run with proper planning and management. Then these units would contribute to the national exchequer by means of taxes and duties, thereby raising the GNP.

The Shahdadkot mill had been contributing Rs212.220 million from 1994 to 1999 to the national exchequer through sales tax, excise duty, income-tax and utilities tax. It can further contribute to the GNP and open more employment opportunities for the local people if proper planning is done to run it.

KARACHI: The ecosystem of the Karachi coast is dangerously stressed because of unbridled industrial and municipal waste discharge into the Arabian Sea. Out of the country’s 825km coastline, 135km stretches around Karachi. Over the years the Karachi coast has earned the distinction of being among the ‘most polluted’ in the world. This pollution directly affects the shoreline, including the mangroves, and has serious implications for the health of the villagers who live along the coastline.

Karachi’s five major industrial areas, with thousands of industries, most of them located around the coastal belt, generate enough pollution to make life difficult for its 13 million people.

Industrial effluent generated by these factories in Sindh Industrial Trading Estate, Korangi Industrial Area, Karachi Export Processing Zone and Landhi Industrial Trading Estate is directly discharged into the sea through Malir and Lyari rivers, virtually without any treatment.

The worst hit portion of Karachi coast is the Korangi creek, where the effluent from Korangi, Landhi, Karachi Export Processing Zone, Bin Qasim Industrial Areas and the country’s largest industrial unit — Pakistan Steel — are directly discharged into the sea. In the Korangi industrial area alone, at least 2,500 industrial units, which include about 135 tanneries, are disposing of their untreated waste in the sea. Organic and toxic waste from these tanneries is one of the main sources of water pollution. The Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA) has been negotiating for past some time to install a treatment plant in Korangi, but its installation and operation at full capacity is likely to take a long time.

The city’s two ports — Karachi Port and Port Bin Qasim — also contribute to the coastal pollution considerably. It has been learnt that some 20,000 tons of oil is added to the blue waters of the Arabian Sea annually through bilge cleaning, leakage from vessels, accidental oil spills and refinery effluent.

Karachi Port handles the majority of the country’s sea-borne trade. The port authorities are ill equipped to deal with the environmental degradation being caused by the shipping industry.

Moreover, because many landlocked Central Asian countries are beginning to view Pakistan as a conduit to ship out their exports, the port activity is likely to increase in the near future and so will the pollution.

Inquiries show that major pollution at Karachi port occurs because of its extensive usage by the vessels that pump out bilges and refuse illegally at the port’s oil terminal. A World Bank study shows that sewage and toxic matter pollution in the Karachi Port includes toxic effects, either direct or indirect, by bioaccumulation of oil, DDT, PCB, and various metals. It also shows that poor water quality is contributing in distortion of aquatic organism and reduction in the reproduction of fish and shrimp.

The port is also affecting the environment with its heavy shipping of oil and subsequent dredging activities. According to a rough estimate, about 90,000 tons a year of oily discharges are pumped out within port limits and, unfortunately, there exists no oily ship waste reception or treatment facility within the port.

In addition, the dredging of the sea is having a major impact. The dredged material is dumped out to maintain the port. However, there is no system for monitoring trace metals in the dredged soil that is likely to further deteriorate the environment.

The 1991 Pakistan National Environmental Plan estimates that three main coastal industries located near the port with the largest volumes of effluents are the steel mill, power plants, and refineries and notes that many smaller industrial units are having more significant polluting effects on the marine environment.

In 1992, a UN study noted that the concept of wastes recycling, treatment, and disposal does not exist in the industrial sector of Pakistan. Even the highly polluted wastes are being discharged irrationally into water bodies, soil and in the air. Proper industrial waste treatment systems are virtually non-existent in the industrial sector. In the absence of any viable government policy on environmental controls, the industries are able to dispose of their waste in the cheapest way by dumping it into the sea.

Moreover, Pakistan cannot do much to prevent dumping of wastes into the sea because it is not a signatory to the 1972 Convention of Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Waste and Other Matter or the 1978 MARPOL Protocol relating the International Convention for Prevention of Pollution from Ships. For this, the government needs to review its interest in becoming a party to all such global agreements.