| October 5, 2002 | Saturday | Rajab 27, 1423 |
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ID card fraud
Reprieve for Ocalan
THIS newspaper has previously taken note of the many complaints made about pre-poll rigging, and it is probably a little late in the day now to comment on the more recent allegations or perceptions of bias on the part of the authorities. Nevertheless, a few points can still be made. First, the Election Commission itself. It has an advertisement on television and in the press urging people to take part in elections and vote to initiate change. It is entirely right that the commission should seek to encourage citizens to exercise their right of franchise. But by asking them to vote for a change, the commission’s message acquires a cryptic political connotation. Change from what? the neutral observer is tempted to ask. From the previous civilian order or from the present military set-up? The commission’s slogan can be interpreted in either way, and in both cases carries an implication that the election body would clearly have wanted to avoid; it should immediately be deleted from the commission’s publicity campaign. Then, yesterday, we carried a story from our Islamabad office quoting a former MNA as saying that an Election Commission advertisement probably meant to educate people on how to cast their votes shows a ballot paper marked by only four party symbols. The symbols do not include those of the PML(N), the PPP or the MMA, some of the largest parties and groupings in the field, but do carry the bicycle symbol of the PML(Q), believed to enjoy official patronage.
In this as well as in the instance of the ‘vote-for-change’ message, it is quite possible that the commission’s publicity managers or the agency handling its campaign were just being plain naive and did not take much care in devising their campaigns. But as a neutral body supervising elections in a politically charged atmosphere, it is important that the commission’s mandate for impartiality should remain uncompromised. Then, there is this persisting charge that governors and other officials have been trying to prop up PML(Q) and other pro-government candidates. The Punjab and Sindh governors are accused of addressing public gatherings and announcing development projects in constituencies where the PML(Q) or, in the case of Sindh, SDA candidates require some helping hand to win. The PML(N) has issued a “fact sheet” listing over a dozen public meetings attended by the Punjab governor where development grants were released and plots distributed. Many nazims are also said to have been active on behalf of the parties to which they are affiliated.
This kind of partisanship on the part of sitting administrations has been a feature of all elections in the country; it might indeed have been much more pronounced if the October 10 polls were to be held under the supervision of a political government. But precisely for that reason, there was a chance for the military government, none of whose members are candidates, to have broken away from the pattern and permitted the electoral process to work according to its own dynamics. That would have certainly enhanced the reputation of the government and the credibility of the elections and their outcome. Unfortunately, the desire to keep out some political leaders and parties has led to actions that are now being questioned by many participants, a development that can only be regretted. Many of the complaints may not be backed by solid evidence, but as in so much else, suspicion of wrongdoing can be as damaging as any wrongful act itself.
THE national identity card is going to play a crucial role in polling and in preventing voter fraud. It is, therefore, important that all complaints regarding forged or bogus cards should be thoroughly investigated by the authorities. Three political parties in Balochistan have drawn attention to the discovery of a number of forged cards in Nushki and Usta Mohammad and the arrest of an employee of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), denied by the authority but reaffirmed in a news item yesterday. Earlier, there was a report that 24,000 suspect cards had been discovered in the Frontier province. It has been known for a long time that foreign nationals, particularly Afghans, have managed to obtain Pakistani ID cards and thus, in theory, are in a position to influence the voting in some of the country’s constituencies. All this falls in the category of criminal activity, and it must be treated as such. Many forged cards can be detected if election staff are honest and polling agents alert.
But there are other problems where the coming elections are concerned. The government has switched over to a new computerized format and, two, the voting age has been reduced to 18 years. The two developments together mean that millions of new cards have to be prepared and issued. A news item a couple of months ago had said that NADRA had despatched 13 million computerized cards and would be able to clear another 2.3 million in time for the October polls. But there is no way the demand can be fully met, and countless 18-year-olds who do not get ID cards will not thus be able to exercise their newly given right of franchise (unless other proof of identity is accepted, which will be particularly difficult in the rural areas). When production of the national identity card was made a condition for voter identification, some of the problems now being encountered were pointed out by responsible sections of the media. Over the years, nothing has happened to put those apprehensions to rest.
ABDULLAH Ocalan must now be a happy man. Even though the Kurdish leader will not be a free man, he will not hang by the neck, because the state security court on Thursday commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment. This is in keeping with Turkey’s reform package, passed by parliament in August, abolishing the death penalty as part of its policy to meet the European Union’s membership criteria, including an improved human rights situation. However, a greater effect of the reprieve for Ocalan should be on Turkey’s internal scene.
The Kurdish problem has cost Turkey dearly in terms of human lives and economy. The largely Kurdish-majority south-eastern part of the country remains economically neglected. Even though the insurgency has ended, the military operations resulted in 30,000 Kurdish and Turkish deaths. The challenge before Ankara and the Kurdish leaders is now to put an unhappy chapter in national life behind and make concerted efforts to integrate the Kurdish community into the national mainstream. Until the August reforms, the Kurds were forbidden to use their language. However, the reforms granted them many cultural rights, including the right to broadcast in the Kurdish language. Of late the Turkish government has also been making efforts to improve economic conditions in the south-eastern part. One hopes the reprieve granted to Ocalan will have a salutary effect on the country’s restive Kurds. Turkey is not a unilingual country. For political and economic stability, it needs a Kurdish population which does not feel persecuted and deprived. A Kurdish minority satisfied with its socio-economic lot and fully integrated with the rest of the nation will be a source of strength for Turkey instead of being a source of conflict and discord.