| February 8, 2002 | Friday | Ziqa’ad 24, 1422 |
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Terrorism conundrum
Traumatized children
THE recent meeting of Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz with US Commerce Secretary Donald Evans in New York, and the subsequent two-day visit of the US deputy secretary of treasury, Kenneth Dam, to Pakistan have underlined the growing interest of the two governments to establish mutually beneficial and lasting economic relations. Commerce minister Abdul Razzak Dawood was also in the US at about the same time as the finance minister. Mr Razzak was talking to the US textile lobbies explaining the advantages of relocating uneconomic textile units in Pakistan. Against this backdrop, it is likely that President Musharraf’s forthcoming state visit to the US in the middle of this month would also be devoted in large part to getting Washington’s policymakers to pay more attention to Pakistan’s economic needs. A number of new economic and technical agreements are likely to be signed during the visit. A one-day investors’ conference is also being arranged by Pakistan in Washington to coincide with the President’s visit. During his visit here, Kenneth Dam assured Pakistan of full US support in its effort to obtain as much concessional assistance as possible from multilateral donors and promised to use Washington’s influence with the international financial institutions, particularly the World Bank and the IMF, to this end.
Finance minister Shaukat Aziz expects the level of annual assistance from the US to Pakistan in the shape of fiscal support, technical and commodity assistance, enhanced market access and defence cooperation to go up to about 1.5 to two billion dollars. Part of this would come through the USAID whose offices have been reopened in Pakistan after remaining closed for over 12 years. Pakistan’s primary aim is to get the US to provide increased market access to Pakistani goods as well as to draw private American investment to Pakistan, especially in the oil and gas sector. For increased market access the US Congress needs to pass relevant laws pending before it so that the tariff on imports from Pakistan could be lowered, particularly for textile and leather goods. The US administration appears to have been persuaded to work with Congress on this matter. Washington has given additional market access to a number of ‘friendly’ developing countries.
So, what in effect Pakistan is asking for is not special treatment but only a level playing field to compete with other exporting countries in the US markets. Pakistan deserves such an access at the earliest to compensate it for the loss of business it has suffered in the post-September 11 period because of cancellation of orders on account of ‘war zone’ uncertainty. The increase in shipping and insurance rates and the slowdown in trade have seriously affected Pakistani exports. If the trend continues the year would end with Pakistan needing more balance-of-payments support than what has been promised.
NEVER before was the need to define terrorism on a universal basis so great as it has become in a post-September 11 world, where the US is bent on targeting anyone it suspects of harbouring ill-will towards it. Its ‘war on terror’ has encouraged countries like Israel and India, which consistently resort to state terrorism as a matter of policy, to crush legitimate freedom movements in Palestine and Kashmir. Hence the debate in the United Nations where the member states harangued and quibbled for weeks on end — without reaching a consensus — over the definition of what really constitutes terrorism. For the large part, Israel and India, which have many a skeleton in their cupboards, were the stumbling block.
Opinions as to what really is an act of terror greatly vary. However, what everyone agrees on is that an act of terrorism entails a planned attack on innocent civilian targets, which may result in loss of life and property. That said, the definition still falls short of a rounded shape, especially when it comes to implementing the measures that may be suggested to deal with the perpetrators of terrorism. Israel and India oppose qualifying this definition by inserting a clause that either exempts freedom movements from the ambit of the definition or holds a state responsible for acts of terrorism committed against a civilian population when it employs brute force to suppress a freedom movement. The definition put forth by certain western countries, which states that ‘deliberate targeting of civilians to achieve political goals by individuals and groups’ constitutes terrorism, falls short of the Arab world’s demand to include state actors in such a definition alongside individuals and groups.
Thus the heated arguments and counter-arguments by member states stalled the consensus on a comprehensive UN treaty to counter global terrorism during the current session of the world body. Now the UN legal committee, which meets later this year, will take up the draft for further review. Sadly, this gives the US, Israel and India time to continue with their witch-hunt for suspects, many of whom may only be victims of these countries’ acting arbitrarily and without any global mechanism in place to restrain rash action by their law enforcement agencies or the military. Another reminder that the post-September 11 world is really not any safer, nor any more civil; a place to be for countries that do not have the military muscle to match the aggressive means used by the bullies of the world.
A DISTURBING documentary recently aired on French television paints a grim picture of the mental trauma Palestinian children have suffered since the start of the second intifada. The constant bombardment and the routine Israeli incursions into Palestinian territories have not only led to many fatalities among children but also left deep psychological scars on those who have survived. Since the troubles erupted, some 200 children have been killed in the occupied territories, of which 166 are Palestinian. The trauma of seeing a parent, a friend or a sibling meet a violent death is not difficult to imagine. According to humanitarian groups, such as Medecins sans Frontieres, the psychological condition of vast numbers of Palestinian children is a serious cause for concern.
Some reports claim that a staggering 85 per cent of children in the area are in a precarious psychological state. The NGO has decided to step up its efforts by providing psychological counselling to these traumatized children. Doctors claim that one of the most disturbing experiences for children is to see their homes bulldozed by Israeli troops, as their parents stand by and helplessly watch. Such children often begin to stutter and have difficulty sleeping. Worse, they begin to harbour a deep-seated resentment for their fathers who they subconsciously consider weak for not preventing the demolition of their homes.
As one distraught father says in the documentary, his children chided him after their home was demolished by saying: “The Israelis came today and you were not able to do anything...” This is the kind of tragedy that the Palestinian people live with every day of their lives. Alarmingly, it is just this kind of deep psychological trauma that can ultimately erupt into outbursts of rage and violence.