| October 15, 2002 | Tuesday | Sha'aban 8, 1423 |
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Carnage in Bali
Tetanus prevention
WITH the passage of the kind of carte blanche resolution President George Bush wanted from Congress, the stage seems set for America’s war on Iraq. For him war seems to have become an end in itself — an obsessive concern which he has been relentlessly pursuing with little regard to Iraq’s positive response to all of Washington’s demands. Baghdad has repeatedly said ‘Yes’ to whatever demands the US has made. If it was inspection, Iraq said it was ready to allow the inspectors back in. If the US wanted inspections of the eight presidential sites, Iraq agreed to that too. In Vienna last month, Iraq and the UN reached complete agreement under which Baghdad agreed to give the UN inspectors “unfettered” access to all sites. Yet, even that agreement evoked no positive response from Washington. In fact, in his much-awaited speech seeking war authorization from Congress, Bush spared no epithets for President Saddam Hussein, calling him a “murderous tyrant”, “a liar” and so on. In the latest letter sent to chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix, Iraq has once again expressed its “complete readiness” to receive the advance team of inspectors. However, the American reaction has been that Iraq is indulging in “word games.” What Washington would have loved to see was a categorical ‘No’ from Baghdad. However, by accepting virtually all demands from the chief UN inspector, Iraq has denied America any plausible pretext for military action. No wonder, it should have manoeuvred to delay the return of the inspectors to Baghdad.
All eyes are now focused on the Security Council, which is to take up the issue tomorrow. Till now, with the exception of the UK, the Bush administration has not been able to convince the other three permanent members of the need for military action. Russia and China both remain opposed to war, and even France has come up with a two-resolution solution: one asking Baghdad to comply with the UN’s demands and the other authorizing military action only if Iraq fails to comply with the first one. The US has no patience with all this; it wants an outright SC resolution authorizing it to take on Iraq militarily.
It is most unfortunate that, at this critical hour, the Islamic community should have done nothing to make its voice heard. Half-hearted resolutions there have been from the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Conference, but nothing specific has been said nor a credible policy of resistance outlined to oppose America’s war plans to punish Iraq. This is in sharp contrast to some strong voices of dissent, including those of outright opposition, heard elsewhere — Germany’s, for instance — and the anti-war rallies in the US and Europe, including Britain. In Congress, too, over 150 legislators have opposed the war authorization resolution. But, regrettably, most Muslim governments have been strangely silent and inactive — in the face of a grave, hanging threat to a fellow Muslim country. The issue is plain enough: the inspectors must be allowed to return to Iraq and do their job. Baghdad has already agreed to that. This being the case, the UN must authorize military action only if the inspectors report that Iraq does indeed possess weapons of mass destruction, or if Iraq obstructs their work. In the absence of either, there is no ground whatsoever for military action. What prevents the members of the OIC, then, from making it categorically and forcefully known to both the US and the UN that they shall not countenance any military move against Iraq except on the basis of UN inspectors’ findings holding Baghdad culpable? This they must do even at this late stage — if only to vindicate the claim of the OIC as a promoter and protector of the interests of the Muslim community of nations.
THE terrorist attack on a nightclub on the Indonesian island of Bali on Saturday was the deadliest incident of its kind since September 11. At least 187 people, many of them Australian and European holiday-makers, were killed and over 300 injured. The death toll is likely to rise, as many tourists remain unaccounted for. As world leaders joined to condemn the outrage, teams of investigators from Australia, the US and UK arrived in Indonesia to get to the bottom of this terrible crime. Who was behind the attack? And what could be the motive for it? The initial focus remains on various Islamic extremists operating in the region, especially the Jemaah Islamiah, which seeks to carve out a pan-Islamic state spanning across a large part of south-east Asia. The group is alleged to have links with Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network. Another theory is that the attack was masterminded by local ultra-nationalist groups that wanted to target the Australians for their key role in the secession of East Timor from Indonesia. If Al Qaeda were indeed behind the blast, it would mark a change from its normal practice of bombing US military and diplomatic targets to an offensive on the economic front. According to this theory, the recent attack off Yemen on a French oil supertanker was the first salvo in this new war on the economic front. The Bali attack is seen as another link in this new chain.
The island is among the most popular tourist resorts in the region. The attack on a nightclub packed with tourists could be designed to scare away visitors and hit the country’s economy. The killing of 50 foreign tourists in Egypt in 1997 had a similar impact on tourism in that country which took years to recover. With world leaders calling for strong action against extremist elements, Indonesian Prime Minister Megawati Sukarnoputri has limited room for manoeuvre given her fragile coalition government and a growing Islamist movement in the chronically unstable country. Meanwhile, a number of commentators have pointed out that President Bush’s obsessive preoccupation with Iraq is not only detracting attention away from the campaign against Al Qaeda but is also making the Muslims angrier.
PAKISTAN is among the 27 countries in the world where tetanus is still an unrestrained killer. According to a news report, the highest incidence of tetanus is among children, with an estimated 22,000 infants falling victim to neonatal tetanus every year. Thanks to the adoption of proper health care procedures and vaccination, the fatal disease has been eliminated in 104 countries worldwide. In Pakistan, infants are most vulnerable because of a lack of proper childbirth procedures and prenatal vaccination. Because over 90 per cent of total births take place at home, often under the supervision of untrained midwives, and because 42 per cent of pregnant women do not get prenatal vaccinations, the incidence among infants remains alarmingly high. Other causes include unsafe circumcision procedures among boys and ear and nose-piercing practices among girls.
Based on the reported cases of tetanus, over 100 children succumb to the disease every month in Karachi alone. The figure is much higher in rural areas of the country where health care facilities are scarcer. Part of the problem lies in the lack of awareness regarding tetanus among the general public. That said, the number of infants falling victim to tetanus can be substantially reduced if the government properly implements its prenatal vaccination plan for expectant mothers like it has done the door-to-door polio vaccination plan.