| July 28, 2002 | Sunday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 17,1423 |
Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)
Ethnic cleansing in Chechnya
Colleges in low-income areas
FOR the second time since it all began on Sept 11, US Secretary of State Colin Powell is coming to South Asia with the aim of defusing tension between Pakistan and India. There is no doubt that the previous trouble-shooting missions undertaken by him and other American diplomats, including Donald Rumsfeld and Richard Armitage, have helped lower tensions. But the situation along the border and the Line of Control continues to be tense because a million men remain deployed in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation. In fact, early last month, the two nuclear neighbours came precariously close to a shooting war.
However, the US secretary of state is coming in a slightly changed context. The world has realized India has overplayed its “cross-border terrorism” hand. Pakistan’s crackdown on terrorist groups within the country began much before the December attack on the Indian parliament building, which was New Delhi’s pretext for massing its troops on the border. Steps taken subsequently by Islamabad have virtually ended all movement across the Line of Control. After his January 12 speech, President Musharraf took further action against militant groups to rid the country of the curse of terrorism and religious extremism. This has been acknowledged by the world, including the US. The other day, in fact, Washington virtually rebuffed New Delhi by declaring that Islamabad was playing a crucial role in the world coalition’s fight against terrorism. The snub came in the wake of the Indian call to the US to have Pakistan declared a terrorist state.
To ascertain the truth or otherwise of the Indian allegations of infiltration, Pakistan has suggested the monitoring of the LoC by international observers, including those from the US and Britain. The reason for India’s rejection of the move is obvious: how would New Delhi explain the insurgency in Indian-occupied Kashmir if international observers were to report that there was no infiltration across the LoC? India is now making much of the so-called election it plans to hold in occupied territory in October. Most Kashmiri representative organizations have already announced their boycott of it. India has also started talking to its puppets about “autonomy” for Kashmir within the Indian Union. Autonomy and the farce of an election are not going to bring lasting peace to Kashmir which has been in a state of uprising over the last 13 years. The real issue there is the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination.
To be meaningful, Secretary Powell’s mission has to have two aims. First, he must put pressure on India to reciprocate Pakistan’s conciliatory move by de-escalating along the border. The military standoff still runs the risk of an accidental war. Secondly, he must impress upon New Delhi of the need for resuming the dialogue with Pakistan on all outstanding disputes and differences, including Kashmir. There is no other way out of a situation of perpetual tension, bitterness and conflict that has marked the two countries’ relations all these decades. Clearly, without a solution of the Kashmir issue, the goal of lasting peace and stability in South Asia will remain elusive. Let Secretary Powell remind India of its commitment to the world and to the people of Kashmir to have the issue settled by peaceful means and with reference to the wishes of the people of the disputed state.
ALLEGATIONS that Russian troops have been engaged in a systematic campaign of executions in Chechnya are a terrible reminder that the conflict in the region continues to cause death and destruction on a massive scale. The International Helsinki Foundation has accused Russian security forces of abducting and murdering large numbers of Chechens during sweep and search operations in the breakaway republic. What is most sinister about these killings is that they target young males at their most productive age, in what the Foundation terms a “process of thinning out the population of young men.” The chilling language of ethnic cleansing, coined during the height of the war in Bosnia, is once again being heard, but this time in the Caucasus. The scale of the killing in Chechnya is shocking indeed. According to reports, between 50 and 80 bodies are recovered every month following operations by Russian forces.
While the killing of young Chechen men continues, human rights groups accuse the West of standing idly by and doing nothing. The reason for the muted response to Moscow’s brutal actions in Chechnya is clear. Russia, a key ally in the world coalition against terrorism, has skilfully exploited the events of September 11 to launch a renewed offensive in Chechnya by drawing an analogy between the US-led war and its own anti-Chechen campaign. Moscow has constantly harped on the Chechen’s supposed links with Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda to justify its brutal campaign. One hopeful sign, however, is that the Russian media has been openly critical of the excesses of its security forces in Chechnya. Critical voices have also been raised in unexpected quarters, including the military. The Russian military commander in Chechnya has openly attacked his own troops and accused them of barbarism. While criticism from within is reassuring, Moscow still needs to be told by the world community that its actions in Chechnya are unacceptable. This is specially true given that the brutal campaign to suppress the Chechens is being conducted under the cover of the war on terrorism.
THE Karachi city government has announced plans to construct eight new colleges in different parts of the city during the current fiscal year as part of its annual development plan. All the proposed colleges will be established in the hitherto neglected, low-income localities of Ibrahim Hyderi, Korangi, Orangi Town and New Karachi. Ibrahim Hyderi is located at the mouth of Korangi creek and supports a community of fishermen numbering in tens of thousands but does not have even some very basic amenities like running water, let alone a college. Korangi is home to a large industrial estate and hundreds of thousands of workers, whose young adults will now be able to benefit from a college in their own vicinity instead of having to travel long distances for higher education. Likewise, the decision to open new colleges in New Karachi, and Orangi Town — the latter has a population of nearly one million but does not have an institution of higher learning — is also commendable.
A total of Rs 300 million has been allocated in the current city government budget to get the construction work started on the new college buildings in the said areas. The city government is also said to be in the process of upgrading facilities at some 150 existing schools and colleges, besides planning to establish 13 new technical schools. In doing so, priority will be given to economically depressed localities like Landhi and Memon Goth. This is a step in the right direction and if carried out as planned, will ensure a more equitable spread of public education facilities instead of concentrating these in the relatively affluent parts of the city.