| February 19, 2002 | Tuesday | Zilhaj 6, 1422 |
Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)
Alone they fight on
Massacre in Nepal
VOICING his deep concern over the dismal state of science and technology in the Muslim world, General Pervez Musharraf told a scholarly gathering in Islamabad on Saturday that such neglect is the root cause of the backwardness of Islamic countries. Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the 10th meeting of the OIC ministerial Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (Comstech), the president presented certain statistics to underline his point. He stated, for example, that the combined GDP of the Muslim world was $1,200 billion while Japan alone had a GDP of $5,500 billion, Germany $1,000 billion and even tiny Austria’s GDP stood at over $200 billion. He also repeated what he had said to a congregation of Islamic scholars at last year’s Seerat conference: while Japan alone had 1,000 universities, all Muslim countries put together had only 430. Similarly, while the Muslim countries produced only 500 science PhDs annually, Britain alone awarded 3,000 such doctorates every year. “This is the true heart-breaking state of our deprivation”, he added. Musharraf went on to plead that the Muslim world must pool its resources, both financial and intellectual, and encourage scientific and technological research to promote economic development.
The president’s address painted an accurate and depressing picture of the current state of affairs. But how can such well-meaning sentiments go beyond hand-wringing and translate into something more meaningful? The president’s suggestion for the setting up of a multi-billion dollar research and development fund is a way forward. However, much more than funds will be needed to move ahead on this front. It will require great political will, a radical rethinking of priorities and a drastic change in the collective mindset to take the Muslim world out of its current technological and scientific backwardness. Sadly, past experience suggests that any plans for a radical change of orientation will be shelved until the next time such a meeting takes place.
Muslim scholars and scientists at similar forums have bemoaned the poor state of learning with depressing regularity but nothing concrete has emerged from this sort of breast-beating. There is growing cynicism about the effectiveness of many of the forums where leaders from Muslim countries congregate to debate and discuss their common problems. Many of these forums have become mere talk shops where leaders let off steam but fail to follow up on their collective resolve — to set up the needed mechanisms, institutions and funds for scientific and technological research and studies — with concrete action. Comstech itself, for example, is a largely moribund institution that ritually comes alive twice a year when the science ministers of the Muslim countries assemble, only to return to their accustomed deep slumber and apathy. It is not as if there are no blueprints for the course of action the Muslim world should take. Over the years, there have been numerous reports on topics of this nature.
Almost three decades ago, the Algerian leader Houari Boumedienne presented a radical vision for the future at the 1974 Islamic summit in Lahore. In that memorable address he had outlined key areas of collective existence where research, studies, coordination and pooling of talent and resources by the Muslim countries could open up enormous possibilities of progress and advancement. Alas, this and other similar plans continue to gather dust, even as large parts of the Muslim world sink deeper into poverty and backwardness. The Muslim world must go beyond describing, over and over again, the symptoms of the malaise afflicting it and take urgent steps to find a cure. The alternative is to be left way behind in the global race for technological and scientific advance.
ONE can appreciate Palestinian courage more appropriately when one sees it against the backdrop of Arab governments’ apathy and inaction. Last week, the Palestinians destroyed a Merkava-3, an Israeli tank considered invincible. Analysts say this marks the beginning of a new chapter in the Palestinian struggle for their usurped rights and for an end to Israeli persecution. If true, the credit goes to the Palestinians for carrying on a valiant struggle against all odds. What is strange is that most Arab governments have chosen to watch Israeli crimes as mere spectators. It is true, the Arab states are no match for Israel’s military strength. But even such assets as they possess — economic, diplomatic and strategic — are not being pressed in the service of the Palestinian cause. Instead, the aloofness of Arab governments makes one feel as if what is going on in the occupied territories is something for the Palestinian people alone to face and has nothing to do with the Arab world. This is evident from the lack of diplomatic initiatives by Arab and other Muslim leaders.
There is, for instance, a difference of opinion between the US and most EU states on the Palestinian question. Many EU states do not approve of Washington’s unqualified support for Ariel Sharon’s policy of brutal suppression. Yet the Arab governments have done nothing to make a common cause with the EU states to make America see the danger as well as the utter inhumanity of blind support to Israel. Nobody, of course, expects the Arab states to take extremist measures or to make maximalist demands. But the one modest aim before them could be to try to have the peace process revived. A joint US-EU demand for revival of the peace process will be hard for Israel to resist. Yet there is no evidence that the Arab governments themselves are united on the issue before they could take it up with the EU. The only hope lies in the courage and determination the Palestinians are showing. Ultimately, it is this resolve that is a guarantee of their victory; history’s verdict on the present set of Arab leaders will be quite harsh.
SUNDAY’S killing of 128 government functionaries in Nepal by Maoist insurgents shook the Himalayan kingdom yet again. Never before had the insurgents targeted the army and police personnel in such a large number and so successfully. The attacks were carried out simultaneously in two remote districts — one about 600km away from the capital, Kathmandu — on the eve of parliament’s crucial meeting on Monday to debate whether to extend the state of emergency imposed three months ago to quell the six-year-old bloody insurgency. A two-thirds majority vote required for extension is now almost certain to be available in the house which was earlier expected to resist the move for extension strongly desired by Prime Minister Deuba’s simple-majority government.
The Maoists had opted out of parliament by resigning their seats in 1996 to pursue a “revolutionary” path, with the aim of abolishing the monarchy. The rebels have since then come to control five of Nepal’s 75 districts, where de facto administrations defy the writ of Kathmandu. Blind pursuit of violence and defiance of authority as a mode of political action is made all the more absurd in a country where communism is not a banned ideology. Its ideals still attract large numbers of Nepalese, who had voted a very strong communist opposition into parliament. By using violence as their preferred method to bring change, the Maoist rebels are not doing their own cause, much less Nepal, any service. Thus the Nepalese government’s resolve to put an end to mindless violence of this kind by using all means available to it under the emergency regulations would seem justifiable.