| October 25, 2002 | Friday | Sha’aban 18,1423 |
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Two resignations
Acid attack case
THE UN-backed agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan on the voluntary return of 1.5 million Afghan refugees to their homeland could bring to an end a long and traumatic chapter in the history of the two countries. While there is cause for optimism following the signing of the deal, its success or failure will hinge on two crucial factors. First, the ability of Hamid Karzai’s administration to create conditions favourable for the return and rehabilitation of the refugees. Closely linked to this is the commitment of the international community to provide funds for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the war-ravaged country. The protracted negotiations between Kabul and Islamabad on the refugee issue resulted in an agreement that the UN believes provides a solid legal framework for the future repatriation of refugees. Earlier, similar agreements were reached between Afghanistan and three countries with a significant Afghan refugee presence: Iran, Britain and France. Some 1.75 million refugees, most of them from Pakistan, have already returned to Afghanistan following the ouster of the Taliban regime late last year. However, there are still about 1.5 million left in Pakistan who are waiting for conditions in Afghanistan to improve before deciding to go back home.
The signals from their country are mixed. While an interim government has been put in place and a semblance of normality restored in some parts of the country, large areas still remain under the control of powerful warlords who refuse to accept the writ of the government in Kabul. Highway robberies and extortions are regular features of life in many areas, and sporadic fighting between rival warlords for control of territory is quite common. The writ of President Hamid Karzai’s government remains restricted to the capital, where UN peacekeeping troops maintain law and order. However, Kabul too has been the scene of many incidents of violence in recent months. What is causing great frustration among the Afghans is the slow pace of reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts. Only a small proportion of the funds pledged by the international community at Tokyo has reached the country so far.
While donors have pointed to the unsettled conditions in the hinterland as a major obstacle to progress, the Afghan government claims that its hands are tied by the US refusal to allow the peacekeeping force to venture beyond Kabul. It is plain to see that unless the resistance being put up by the warlords is broken and Kabul is enabled to extend its jurisdiction throughout the country, rehabilitation and restoration work simply cannot be undertaken with any degree of confidence. With chronic instability and the threat of violence continuing, the refugees are naturally wary of returning home. It is time for the international community to play a more positive role in breaking this terrible logjam. This means primarily two things: a substantial increase in monetary and material help and an extension of the role of the international peacekeeping force stationed in Afghanistan. Pakistan, which has shouldered the onerous responsibility of sheltering and caring for over three million refugees for over two decades, must work harder to convince the international community of the need and urgency of pushing the aid effort forward. If Afghanistan is allowed to lapse back into anarchy and chaos, it can only plunge the entire region into further turmoil and provoke a new influx of refugees into neighbouring countries. It is time for the world community to restore hope to this unfortunate country and allow the weary refugees to return home to a better and more secure future.
WITH the present government about to come to an end, a flurry of resignations of ministers and top officials is only to be expected. But some may be more noteworthy than others, and behind some a tale may lie. On Wednesday, it was announced that the head of the National Reconstruction Bureau, Gen Tanvir Naqvi, had asked to be relieved of his duties. Gen Naqvi had won something of a reputation as the Musharraf regime’s brainy sort. He was the author of the local government scheme aimed at decentralizing administration, a scheme that is now in place. While most sections of public opinion were in favour of devolution of power, Gen Naqvi’s radical plan transferred power from the centre to the districts, rather than to the provinces and from there downwards, creating competing tiers of directly and indirectly elected functionaries to suit the government’s notions of democracy. Opinion is uncertain about the practicality and utility of the reforms initiated by Gen Naqvi. More controversial by far has been his role in the context of the constitutional amendments that have been made. By removing himself from the scene prior to the induction of an elected government, he has perhaps anticipated the review to which his schemes may be subjected. It is also said he wanted to remain part of the president’s secretariat rather than have his bureau pass into the domain of the prime minister.
In Sindh, the provincial health minister, another retired general, has gone. The governor says Gen Ahsan Ahmad has been sacked for “inefficiency, favouritism, partisan attitude and corrupt practice”. The surprise is that it took the governor three years to discover all these failings in one of his ministers. The minister claims that he has resigned in protest against the government’s conduct of the elections and pre-poll rigging, including some of the amendments made in the Constitution. He says he had criticized many government decisions during his tenure. If he had made his protests public when these were made and resigned earlier as a matter of principle, his resignation might have seemed more convincing. Now it is one man’s word against another’s.
THE way in which the Multan police have mishandled and delayed investigations into a case involving the deaths of an 18 year-old woman and a four-year-old girl is downright criminal. The two, who were relatives, were victims of an acid attack while asleep in their home three months ago. Both later died in hospital as a result of their burns. Their family members have identified the attacker, saying that he had a motive for revenge because the older victim was previously engaged to his son. Seeing that the police, for reasons best known to them, were unwilling to believe this account, the victim’s family hired sniffer dogs, and they also led them to the house of the alleged attacker. However, instead of seeing this as confirming the family’s account, the police have taken the rather absurd view that if the family were so certain of the acid thrower’s identity, why did it have to use the dogs? The family’s ordeal is compounded by the fact that the attacker is said to have some connection with a military official.
Such grossly insensitive investigative methods on the part of the police, and their tendency to be co-opted as minions of powerful vested interests instead of serving the people, is why many citizens would rather not go to the police for help. The Punjab government should take note of this delay and direct the Multan police to take up the case at once.