| January 21, 2003 | Tuesday | Ziqa’ad 17, 1423 |
Waiting for the snow to melt
TWO mysterious incidents occurred in Islamabad last week. They were mysterious because the authorities concerned denied that they took place at all, contradicting the alleged victims’ story.
Two clerics of two different religious schools had lodged complaints with the police claiming that their premises were raided by some foreigners who they believed were from the FBI. The raids reportedly took place in the early hours of Tuesday and on Wednesday about midnight.
The clerics claimed that the raiders, accompanied by interpreters, questioned them about Al Qaeda, Arabs, the expenses of the Madressah and took away attendance registers. In the first raid, the cleric claimed, the cook was also taken away but was later released.
The police reportedly refused to register any FIR, denying that any raid took place. The APP news agency reported the senior superintendent of police (SSP), Islamabad, as saying: “No raid was conducted on any Madressah in the federal capital by the FBI, local police or any other investigation agency. We have thoroughly investigated the case and did not get even a single clue about the so-called FBI raid.”
Similarly, the SSP told the foreign news agency Reuters: “There is no proof that any raid took place or there were foreigners involved in a raid.”
The district magistrate of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) also issued a press note saying that no raid was conducted on any Madressah by the ICT administration, the capital police or any other agency.
Despite these denials, the district magistrate constituted a committee comprising the assistant commissioner, deputy director Auqaf and an ASP to look into the alleged incidents.
But why these two completely different stories: one claiming there was a raid and the other saying there was no raid? Which version is true: the one of the police or the complainant’s ? If the complainant’s version is true, why the police are trying to hide the raid ? If the police version is correct, why are the alleged victims making up the stories?
Other incidents, where the FBI were also alleged to have been involved, were raids conducted on the homes of two Pakistani doctors in Lahore whom the authorities believe to be Al Qaeda supporters. Despite numerous eyewitness accounts of westerners involved in the raids and arrest of the doctors, the authorities have vehemently denied any FBI involvement in the incidents.
Similarly, there have been press reports about the FBI supervising some security operations within Pakistan against Al Qaeda suspects — most recently the pre-dawn operation on Jan 9 in Karachi in which two Arabic-speaking men were arrested. But the authorities continue to insist that security operations inside the country against suspected terrorists are conducted by Pakistani security and intelligence agencies.
Regardless of who is telling the truth or who is lying, the contradiction in the versions of the alleged seminary incidents does no good at all to the government’s credibility domestically or the image of the country abroad. Such denials only serve to erode the credibility of the security agencies in the eyes of the people and shake the trust of the people in the government.
Granted that the country is going through very difficult times. In fact it has been since Sept 11 and specially since Islamabad decided to throw in its lot with the US in the war against terrorism. In the process, the government has had to take many tough decisions which many consider controversial because they touch upon the sensitive issue of sovereignty.
The best way for any government to deal with such sensitive issues is to handle it openly, honestly and above the board. If the government says that the FBI or any other foreign agency is not involved in security operations within the country, it should make sure that this is the truth. Once the people’s trust in the government is breached, they will always be suspect even though other decisions and statements may be sincere and true.
Ideally speaking, the government should take the nation into confidence at every step. If at all it has to adopt a policy or measure knowing that it would be controversial, it would be better to prepare the nation for it and then adopt it confidently, rather than try to hide it from the people.
COMMENTING on complaints of water shortage, Tameer-i-Sindh writes that Sindh Chief Minister Ali Mohammad Mahar has asked the people to pray for rain and wait for the melting of snow at the mountain peaks. Nobody in Sindh is willing to believe that the water shortage in the province is because of lack of rainfall or delay in snow melting. On the other hand, they are convinced that the water shortage in Sindh is artificial, created by the continued stealing of the province’s water share by Punjab.
The Sindh chief minister should not have made such superfluous comment on the sensitive issue. He should remember that all the reservoirs on the River Indus had been set up with the promise that whenever the country would face water shortage due to lack of rain, the water, stored in reservoirs, would be fairly distributed among the provinces. However, this never happened. On the other hand, Punjab, despite receiving most of the stored water, does not refrain from stealing Sindh’s water share.
While attributing the water crisis in his province to natural causes, the Sindh chief minister has represented the Centre and not his province.
Similar statements were also issued by his predecessors to ensure continuation of their rule over the province. However, it must not be forgotten that governments in the country are often short-lived and one has to return to his constituents.
Ibrat says that due to some firing incidents on the day of the jirga to settle the Mahar-Jatoi tribal dispute, the reconcilatory congregation could not be held. The deplorable event has heightened tension between the two tribes in Shikarpur district.
The chief minister of Sindh should personally come forward to avert further bloodshed in Shikarpur.
Similarly, the efforts to end tribal feuds in different parts of the province should be on the top of the priorities of the provincial administration.
To help the government in this connection, civil society should also play its due role and the people from all political parties, social, literary, and cultural organizations should join hands and launch a peace initiative.
Awami Awaz writes that news reports of brutal killings of innocent children and teenagers has become a regular feature in local dailies. Adverse social and economic conditions and political deprivation of Sindh seem to have developed a mentality of sadism among its population.
The incidents of child killing and setting the bodies ablaze reveal the decline of human values in Sindhi society. More shocking is the failure of the conscious circles to take any notice of the tragedies. If the educated and aware people of the province continue to remain indifferent to the gory incidents, there is no hope of any reduction in the number of such heinous crimes.
Sach says that another species of innocent beings, which are being mercilessly killed in Sindh, are the migratory birds from Siberia and other cold areas. The government should take some steps to save the lives of the “guests.” The NGOs working for the environment should also create awareness among the people against the hunting of the birds.