The crucial task ahead

THE National Assembly meets today in Islamabad after an inordinate interval. More than four months have passed since the last session, in which members were sworn in and the leader of the house elected. Following those initial rituals, the assembly went into a long period of hibernation from which it is finally emerging now. The country today stands at a crucial transitional period between military dictatorship and democracy and has an array of pressing issues waiting for the political leadership to tackle. The crisis over Iraq, in particular, is agitating the public mind and must be debated by the people’s representatives before a decision is taken on which course of action to take. What is remarkable is that the prime minister has yet to address the nation to spell out his agenda for the future. Not surprisingly, there is a feeling of drift and questions are being asked about who is really running the country. Meanwhile, the Senate elections too are now more or less behind us. Of the 100 members, 80 have now been elected, leaving the representatives from FATA and the federal capital to face election on Thursday. That will end the long process of electing members of both houses.

The results so far suggest that the ruling PML-Q and its allies will manage a comfortable majority in the upper house. This will not only enable the party to go ahead with its legislative agenda but also elect a chairman of their choice. The Senate chairman’s is a highly coveted post because the incumbent acts as head of state in the president’s absence. The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal has also won a respectable tally of 21 seats, making it a significant force in the Senate. The PPP has done rather poorly compared to its showing in October, winning just 11 seats. Like the October polls and their aftermath the Senate elections too were marred by accusations of rigging and backdoor manipulation. The opposition has alleged that the intelligence agencies were extremely active in trying to ensure ‘positive’ results for pro-government candidates. Tampering with the people’s mandate has always proved counter-productive in Pakistan’s chequered, often turbulent, history, but unfortunately the practice continues to this day. After the general elections, when the prime minister’s slender majority needed to be raised to a more comfortable level, defections were encouraged from the ranks of the PPP, leaving a bitter aftertaste.

But no matter how bitter the hangover, it is time for the elected representatives to put the past behind, and get down to the business of running the country without wasting more time. The parliament must now imprint its stamp on the country’s policies, and legislators must prove that they are capable of running the affairs of state efficiently and with responsibility. The first two challenges lie over the issue of the Legal Framework Order and the US role in Pakistan. The members must be allowed to debate freely and frankly these crucial matters without attempts to short-circuit the process. Far too often has democracy been derailed by its detractors and cornered for personal power by its supposed proponents. It is time to allow the process to move forward without putting too many hurdles in its way. Democracy, however flawed as a system, must be given the chance it deserves to take root and flourish in this unfortunate country.

Compliance, not defiance

THE United Nations chief weapons inspector for Iraq, Hans Blix, has asked Baghdad to start destroying its Al Samoud-2 missiles by March 1. The missiles exceed the 90-mile range limit imposed by the UN on Iraqi ballistic missiles following the 1991 Gulf war. In a firm statement addressed to the Iraqi leadership, Mr Blix said that he did not expect any negotiations with Baghdad on this requirement. Common sense demands that Iraq pay heed to the UN directive at this critical juncture when the US and Britain are readying their forces in the Gulf for an invasion and have already tabled a resolution in the Security Council to this effect. Any dilly-dallying by Iraq on the issue would give its arch denigrators the chance they have been waiting for: to take on Baghdad militarily in the name of disarming it. Any indication of defiance or non-compliance by Iraq at this stage would also weaken the sympathy it has gained with many of the rest of the members of the Security Council ever since the Bush administration went on the warpath against Iraq.

The stakes in the Iraq crisis have been raised to a point where old allies like France and Germany have rejected the US rationale for war, insisting the UN weapons inspectors be given more time and opportunity to disarm Iraq. Any miscalculation on the part of the Iraqi leadership now would instead disarm the opponents of the war of their will to resist. President Saddam Hussein should know this. Wisdom and realism require him to use this last opportunity to avert the terror and suffering a punitive war for his beleaguered country and its hapless people. He can do this by first destroying the prohibited missiles named by Dr Hans Blix within the prescribed deadline, and thereafter by fully complying with the UN directives in terms of weapons inspection and disarmament. Indeed, Baghdad can turn the tables on Washington and London by inviting the UN inspectors to be physically present at the site as it goes about destroying the prohibited missiles and other lethal weapons it possesses. Such a move would only strengthen the resolve of the anti-war members of the Security Council to continue to oppose the US and British designs on Baghdad. Full and willing compliance with the UN directives and resolutions is the only way to deny the US and Britain the pretext they need to go ahead with their war plans.

A brutal act

THE wanton killing of an innocent student by the police at a picket in Lahore on Saturday illustrates the trigger-happy approach of the law enforcers. Being signalled to stop his motorcycle by a constable, the student, while trying to do so, slightly hit the policeman, who started thrashing him in rage. When he tried to run away to escape the beating, the constable shot him. Reports say that after committing this barbarity the police, instead of taking the injured student to hospital, kept dragging him on the road and tried to make it seem like an accident. Had timely medical attention been ensured for the student, his life could perhaps have been saved. A far cry from the image of a people-friendly police, this indicates a callous and brutal mindset prone to savaging ordinary citizens on the slightest excuse. The police claim that the slain student seemed to be a criminal as he tried to break through the picket.

This line of argument obviously seems designed to cover up the brutal killing. If they suspected him, they could have checked his papers and searched him thoroughly after he had stopped. In any case, there was no justification for opening fire on him. The tragic incident once again shows that there is hardly any check on police misconduct and excesses, despite the daily litany of complaints on this score. It also shows how serious a threat is posed to citizens’ lives and honour by the police pickets dotting the city in the name of crime control. Complaints of ill-treatment, harassment and extortion have been pouring in almost daily against them. What is more, the Lahore High Court has termed them illegal and directed that citizens should not be harassed at such checkpoints. However that may be, the policemen involved in Saturday’s beating and shooting must be held accountable for their horrifying crime and others warned against similar acts of brutality.