| February 27, 2002 | Wednesday | Zilhaj 14, 1422 |
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Congo fever outbreak
Suicides on the rise
ONE must be disappointed by Indian President K.R. Narayanan’s reiteration of the BJP government’s hard line against Pakistan. In a speech to parliament, the Indian president ruled out both talks and de-escalation as long as Pakistan did not agree to certain conditions. Amounting virtually to a diktat, the conditions are: one, that Pakistan must hand over the 20 men India says are responsible for the Dec 13 attack; two, that Islamabad should stop “cross border terrorism.”
Pakistan’s position on the entire gamut of Indo-Pakistan relations is based on principle and devoid of all sophistry. Whatever the problem, Islamabad says, it must be solved by recourse to negotiations. On the attack on the Indian parliament building, Pakistan not only immediately condemned this blatant act of terrorism, it also offered a joint investigation; Islamabad also said that New Delhi must provide concrete evidence of the involvement of those it holds responsible for the Dec 13 attack. Pakistan, like the entire world, also noted that India had refused the American offer of FBI assistance in solving the mystery behind the attack.
Last year, long before the World Trade Centre tragedy, the Musharraf government made its first move towards eliminating terrorism from Pakistan. In his speech on independence day, President Musharraf announced the banning of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Sipah-i-Muhammad in a move that was widely hailed at home and abroad. What had prompted this decision was the involvement of these parties in acts of terrorism in Pakistan; the decision had nothing to do with its relations with the outside world. Then, following the Sept 11 tragedy, Pakistan threw in its lot with the US-led world coalition and has played a key role in the war against the Taliban and the Al Qaeda terrorist networks. The outlines of Pakistan’s future policy toward terrorism were outlined by President Musharraf on Jan 12. In a historic speech, besides banning several more extremist organizations, he made it clear that his government would not allow anyone to use Pakistan as a base for terrorist operations anywhere in the world. The entire world hailed the speech; even the Indian government itself welcomed it in guarded tones.
Combating terrorism is a long-term job. Doubtless, Pakistan today is paying a heavy price for the mistakes by some elements within its military establishment which encouraged a jihadi culture. However, the Musharraf government’s efforts now to stamp out religious militancy and strengthen civil society are steps that are needed in Pakistan’s own interest. It is a struggle that will fetch results in the long run. A hasty and rash crackdown on the extremists is not without pitfalls, for there is always the possibility of a backlash. This Pakistan simply cannot afford, while there is an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation with India along the border.
Pakistan is not asking for the moon: it is merely pleading for talks to solve all issues, including the problem of Jammu and Kashmir. Islamabad has also offered a phased withdrawal of the two armies so as to lessen tensions along the borders. New Delhi rejects this, too. What, then, is the alternative if not negotiations — an indefinite continuation of the military stand-off that could result in an accidental war? The Indian president’s speech is customarily written by the government, but one wishes the BJP had injected a bit of moderation in it to acknowledge the repudiation of its hard-line policy in the just concluded state elections.No wonder, Pakistan should call Mr Narayanan’s speech “unfortunate and disappointing.”
THE outbreak of the highly infectious Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever at the Holy Family Hospital (HFH) in Rawalpindi has already claimed three lives, the latest being a doctor who was treating a patient with symptons of the disease. The source of the outbreak at the HFH appears to be a patient who was brought to Rawalpindi from the Combined Military Hospital in Rawalakot, Azad Kashmir, with excessive haemorrhaging. This patient died last week, along with another patient in the same ward. An emergency has been declared at the HFH and the infected ward has been cordoned off as an isolation area. Some 60 people who have had contact with the three victims are being closely monitored and given anti-viral drugs. Although the disease is transmitted by ticks found in animals, including cattle, it can also be easily transmitted by direct contact with the blood and secretions of infected patients.
Periodic outbreaks of this deadly disease have claimed many a precious life in this country because the disease was not diagnosed in time for the necessary precautions to be taken to contain it. In this case, the disease seems to have been transmitted by a patient from Azad Kashmir. The doctor tending to this patient also contracted the disease, and was transferred to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad where she died on Monday. This means that all staff, patients and family members who had come in contact with any of the three victims in the three hospitals were in danger of contracting the disease. Alarmingly, two HFH doctors who had been treating their infected colleague are also believed to have developed symptoms of Congo fever. Had the disease been quickly diagnosed and the patient properly isolated, the two subsequent deaths and other possible infections could have been prevented. The authorities in the health ministry and the National Institute of Health need to step up their campaign to broaden awareness about this deadly disease, particularly among the medical community.
LIFE in Pakistan last year was not considered worth living by many. Statistics emanating from Karachi put the number of people who committed suicide in that city alone at 125. The year before Sindh topped the list with the highest number of reported suicides in the country. The Human Right Commission of Pakistan says that over 49 per cent of the total suicides were reported from Sindh, 31 per cent from Punjab, 12 per cent from the NWFP and eight per cent from Balochistan. Poverty and joblessness were cited as the leading causes for suicide, and almost all the cases were reported from economically depressed social classes.
Psychiatrists say that every suicide attempt is ‘a cry for help’. But in a society like ours it is hard to find many listeners for a desperate cry, especially when it comes from the impoverished section of society. The Pakistan Mental Health Association says that most unsuccessful suicide attempts in the country go unreported for fear of prosecution and the social stigma attached to suicide, while most successful attempts pass off as accidental deaths.
In the absence of any reliable data and research into the rising incidence of suicide, it may be difficult to identify the exact causes that have driven hundreds — if not thousands — of Pakistanis to take their lives in the past few years. It is time the government, with the help of non-governmental organizations working at the grassroots level, paid more attention to the state of mental health among the general public.