| September 24, 2002 | Tuesday | Rajab 16, 1423 |
Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)
Right to information
Saving the turtles
IT IS not often that a foreign policy issue should become an influencing factor in a country’s general election, but in the case of Germany, this almost appears to have happened. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had made his government’s refusal to join any possible US-led attack on Iraq one of his major campaign themes. His stand was backed by his foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, head of the Greens Party, which has been in coalition with Mr Schroeder’s Social Democrats. Together, this Red-Green partnership galvanized Germany’s strong pacifist lobby and it has now won the Bundestag, the country’s lower house of parliament, by 13 seats against the Christian Democrat coalition led by Mr Edward Stoiber. But without a surge in support for the Greens, which have established themselves as Germany’s third largest party, Mr Schroeder on his own might not have been able to ensure victory for his side. The Social Democrats actually got somewhat less of a share of the popular vote than in the last national election in 1998 and tied with the Christian Democrats and their Liberal Free Democrat allies at 38.5 per cent. It was the Greens, with their consistent opposition to militarism and nuclear weapons as well as their concern with the environment that brought out the votes against the right.
It will be interesting to see whether Mr Schroeder’s new government will be able to maintain its position on Iraq when the crunch comes. Some western commentators are already saying that one of the chancellor’s main tasks will be to repair his country’s relations with the United States, damaged during the election campaign. He will have to face possible arm-twisting by Washington and pressure from European countries like Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland, which have right-wing governments or significant right-wing parliamentary representation. Britain is ruled by the Labour Party, a natural political ally of the Social Democrats, but a party that has already sold its soul to the US. Much will also depend on what shape a United Nations resolution on weapons inspections finally takes. The hope is that the outcome of the German polls will strengthen the resistance to war in Europe, where popular opinion is not only worried by the Bush administration’s pugnacious attitude to Iraq but also by what The New York Times has called “the bald assertions of American power” as outlined in Mr Bush’s policy statement sent to Congress last week. The statement proclaims the right of pre-emptive American action anywhere in the world and makes the kind of unilateral assertions of power that have always jarred on European ears.
On the domestic front, Mr Schroeder’s centre-left coalition has got through an election that is described as the closest in German history despite high unemployment and creaking health-care and education systems. The growth rate has been low, and calls for cutting back on the country’s generous social-welfare system have been growing strong. Mr Schroeder in his victory statement has acknowledged that there are difficult times ahead, and the narrow margin of his victory might make bold reforms difficult to implement. It should not be forgotten that the Christian Democrats have made electoral gains, and they will try their level best to keep the new government under pressure.
EVEN though its text has not been released yet, the freedom of information ordinance approved by the cabinet on Saturday must be welcomed because the country is without a sunshine law. The 1997 caretaker government had also promulgated an ordinance to this effect, and it appeared to concede a lot of ground by moving away from the state’s obsessive preoccupation with keeping matters secret. However, on closer scrutiny, the law actually denied a wide category of information to the public. The one approved on Saturday is the fourth press law made by this government — all coming in a row on the eve of the October elections. A better option would have been to leave the matter of an appropriate law on freedom of information to the next parliament. But in a country where land allotments, property sales and contracts awarded by the state have been a major source of corruption, public access to the relevant records is important. Making records and documents available to the press and public for scrutiny would doubtless act as a check on politicians and bureaucrats who often disregard rules and procedures to favour individuals and groups for a consideration. Official contracts with foreign states and firms in military and civilian sectors have also been a source of corruption. Some big names in Pakistani politics have had their faces smeared on this count.
It is regrettable, however, that under this ordinance a wide variety of official records would still not be accessible. While one can understand sensitive matters relating to defence as well as personal and company bank accounts being exempted, the Freedom of Information Ordinance 2000 precludes the press from having access to ‘any matter’ declared classified by the government. This virtually nullifies the very purpose of the ordinance, because anything and everything can be classified as ‘sensitive’ and hidden away. This open-ended provision virtually defeats the purpose of the proposed new ordinance whose aim should be to provide free access to information rather than holding back a lot of it from public knowledge and scrutiny.
LACK of resources seems to be hampering the functioning of a project to save and conserve marine turtles along Pakistan’s coastline. According to a report, shortage of adequate funding has meant that the campaign to tag the animals has not done all that well. In the past twenty years, around 5,000 turtles have been covered by the tagging effort, with experts involved in the process saying that many more are yet to be tagged. Tagging is crucial to the survival of these animals since it allows scientists to monitor their movement and take measures for their protection. Turtles without these tags can wander near human settlements or into areas where they might come into conflict with other animals, especially predators who eat their eggs.
The Karachi and Balochistan coast is among the few places in the world where green marine turtles come and lay their eggs. Clearly, we should act in such a way that our shores continue being breeding grounds for these fascinating animals. The project to tag these turtles is the exclusive domain of Sindh’s wildlife department which itself is quite hamstrung by lack of funds and trained staff. In the past there have been public awareness campaigns to involve the people, especially school and college students, in the effort so that it becomes easier to sustain. These should be revived and other measures taken to ensure that the rate at which these animals are being tagged is speeded up.