Rallying around Arafat

THE US call for the removal of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has had exactly the opposite effect on the veteran leader’s beleaguered people. The Palestinians have, by and large, responded with anger to the recent speech by President George Bush in which he stated that a Palestinian state could only be achieved if Arafat was ditched and sweeping reforms of the Palestinian Authority were carried out. Bush was widely seen as echoing the sentiments of hardline Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who has long been accusing Arafat of being the main stumbling block to peace in the Middle East. The US president’s endorsement of this view is generally seen as blatantly partisan and by most Palestinians as a flagrant intervention in their internal affairs. The Bush speech has proved counter-productive in a number of other ways, too. For one, the joint US-Israeli tirade against Arafat has simply served to boost support for the Palestinian leader. The speech has galvanized public opinion in favour of Arafat, who is once again being viewed as a symbol of the Palestinian struggle and whose survival has become a matter of national honour.

To make matters worse for Washington, many erstwhile opponents of Arafat are now rallying behind him and are hesitant to criticize him. With elections scheduled for January next year, there are fears that few likely figures will be willing to stand against Arafat because they would not want to be seen as acting in deference to US and Israeli wishes. One prominent critic of Arafat, former Gaza security chief Mohammad Dahlan, has also refused to run against Arafat in the elections. “I have huge criticisms of (Arafat),” he said recently, “but when Bush and Ariel Sharon say they want to change Arafat, I become the head of his re-election committee.” Ironically, Dahlan was widely viewed in the US as the most likely alternative to Arafat. While many Palestinians have been critical of Arafat’s style of leadership and the corruption within the Palestinian Authority, few are willing to criticize him while he is under attack from the US and Israel.

Washington now finds itself in a bind of its own making. There is now a growing realization that the Bush speech was wholly misconceived in tone and content. America’s staunch allies in Europe, for example, have strongly opposed the US line on Arafat, arguing that it is not for them to tell the Palestinians who their leader should or should not be. Even Britain, otherwise extremely careful not to break ranks with the US, has refused to toe Washington’s line on Arafat. In fact, a junior British foreign minister went ahead and met Arafat in his devastated Ramallah compound just days after Bush’s speech. US Secretary of State Colin Powell is also believed to have cautioned the administration against ditching Arafat, but he was overruled by the president. The results of this blatant pro-Israel tilt are there for all to see. Indeed, the latest US policy initiative on the Middle East seems destined to failure simply because it puts all the onus to reform and reorient on one party, leaving the other free to pursue its policy of brutal suppression and persecution. As a result, there is now a widespread feeling among the Arabs and Palestinians that the US can no longer be considered an honest broker for peace in the Middle East because its policy is increasingly hostage to the Israelis.

Another gang-rape

THE numbing public shock and anger over the Meerwala gang-rape incident have yet to dissipate when there is news of another gang-rape committed on a 15-year old poor tenant-farmer girl in a village near Hyderabad. The victim, Meeran Kohli of Goth Bachal Shah, was brought to Hyderabad Civil Hospital after a local union council member and four of his cronies sexually assaulted her. The girl says she recognizes each one of her five tormentors, as the councillor in question is also the local landlord. However, the police, in their twisted wisdom, have registered a case against five ‘unknown’ men, instead of naming the culprits specifically in the FIR. Since the omission is inexplicable except as a ploy intended to hush up the case at a later stage, the matter must be looked into at once by the police high-ups and steps taken to ensure that the investigation of the crime is thorough and that no attempts are made at any level to obstruct and circumvent the course of justice.

Sexual crimes of this fiendish and other nature are truly the bane of a society in which the rich and the powerful are known to literally get away with murder. They are also a sad comment on the eroding social and moral values that must inform and sustain a civil society. Like many other Third World countries, Pakistan as a society in transition is afflicted with the wide prevalence of feudal values and tribal customs and traditions that continue to influence people’s outlook and attitudes, particularly in the vast rural hinterland. This explains the generally low status accorded to women. They are often regarded as chattels and treated indifferently and in certain situations, even cruelly. How else does one explain the frequent cases of karo-kari and ‘honour’ killing, gang-rape and other horrific crimes against women in Pakistan? It is indeed a matter of shame for the successive governments in the country that they have done practically nothing to change the prevalent social attitudes towards women and improve their status. Until this is done, shameful episodes such as the ones at Meerwala and in the village near Hyderabad will continue to recur.

Neglect of enforcement

THE inordinate delay in formulating enforcement rules has been cited by Punjab’s Environmental Protection Department as one of the causes of unchecked environmental degradation. Another reason is the scant progress towards developing an adequate administrative mechanism to assess and monitor the impact of industrial and vehicular emissions. The environment protection authorities themselves cannot escape blame given their inefficiency. However, assistance from other departments is often not forthcoming nor is there any movement towards voluntary pollution control, an option favoured by the government. The pollution charge proposed for units discharging untreated effluents is also not being levied. If owners of such units still refuse to fulfil their obligations, it is because they believe that the government is not really serious about enforcement.

Among the burning issues requiring urgent attention are the treatment of sewage and industrial waste and their disposal and controlling emissions from factories, particularly those located in residential areas. Other major environmental problems are the pollution of subsoil drinking water because of seepage of industrial effluents and sullage and inadequate solid waste disposal. The discovery of bone deformities among hundreds of children in a village near Lahore as a result of drinking contaminated water was a grim reminder of the tragic consequences of disregarding environmental safeguards. There is no proper survey of environmental degradation, nor is there adequate training of manpower in environmental control. Attention must be paid to launching pilot projects to develop inexpensive technology for monitoring pollutants and controlling emissions from motor exhausts and industrial flares. Neglect of the environment will not only exacerbate health hazards but will also jeopardize our long-term economic interests. The test of the government’s will to protect the environment lies in its ability to devise a foolproof enforcement mechanism and take suitable action against polluters.