| March 29, 2003 | Saturday | Muharram 25, 1424 |
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A terrible ordeal
WHILE the war is still on, Colin Powell’s latest statement on Iraq throws light on the kind of post-war political dispensation America has in mind for that country. In a larger context, it could give an insight into Washington’s intention for the entire region. Speaking to the House of Representatives’ budget subcommittee, the US Secretary of State made it clear his country would not allow UN control over a post-war Iraq. Blowing hot and cold, however, while he conceded that the world body would have “a role” once the war was over, he made it plain that America “didn’t take on this huge burden” of Iraq’s supposed liberation only to hand over “everything to the UN.” Instead, “the centre of gravity” would be the coalition now fighting the war. What Powell is actually saying is that the US has a grand scheme for oil-rich Iraq (and possibly for the entire region), that it would be the sole sheriff, and that it would brook no interference from any quarters — not even from the United Nations. The outlines of a post-war Iraq have not been spelled out. But going by whatever has appeared in the American media and the views which the brains behind the Bush administration have aired from time to time, one can expect Iraq and the Middle East to be placed under a new mandate on the pattern of the notorious Sykes-Picot pact. The only difference will be that, instead of dividing it up into British and French-controlled areas as in 1918, it is America and Israel which will jointly run the Middle East this time. While Israel will have more lebensraum, the US will have a monopoly of Iraq’s oil.
Whether Iraq will be split into three states — a Shia south, a Kurdish north and a Sunni canton in the centre — is a moot question. But whatever the scheme, it is obvious that America will craft it, enforce it and run it entirely on its own. The so-called Iraqi interim administration that Powell has spoken of will obviously be an occupation regime, with Gen Tommy Franks donning Douglas MacArthur’s mantle. It is doubtful, however, if the Iraqi people will accept such a dispensation easily. Large sections of the Iraqis may have been deeply alienated by the Saddam regime, but it would be a mistake to reckon without their sense of pride and their commitment to Iraqi and Arab nationalism. Already, the Americans have been proved wrong in the south, for the Shias have not risen in revolt or presented bouquets to incoming Anglo-American troops. There is no reason to believe that, after the war, the Iraqis would be willing to exchange Saddam for Franks or someone else enthroned in Baghdad. There should be no illusion on this score, for even an Iraqi child knows the war is being conducted and billions of dollars are being spent not for the love of Arab and Iraqi people but to secure the Middle East for America and Israel.
The only solution for a post-war Iraq lies in having an interim UN administration with two main tasks assigned to it: to alleviate human suffering and to make arrangements for holding elections in which all parties should be allowed to take part. The aim should be to draft a new constitution that will ensure Iraq’s unity and pave the way for a multiparty democracy. Any attempt at Balkanizing Iraq or placing it under an American mandate will produce disastrous results.
THE chairman of the higher education commission recently told a workshop that the federal government had approved a Rs 1.3 billion project to completely overhaul and revamp the Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR). The council is a state-owned body and is supposed to manufacture products using indigenous material and research and scientific techniques. Unfortunately, by its past actions, it has shown itself in a poor light in terms of active striving in research and development. Through years of official neglect, the PCSIR has become a repository for crumbling scientific instruments and ageing staff, most of whom have education that is sadly out of date and research methods that are largely obsolete. The body has not been successful at all in creating products that could actually sell in today’s market, not least because it employs no marketing of any kind and because a state-owned tag does not inspire much confidence among would-be patent buyers.
It would be unfair to single out the PCSIR only. Much of the blame lies with successive governments which saw nothing wrong with spending billions on weapons but could not set aside even a nominal allocation for basic scientific research. Unfortunately, the science and research base in our universities is too stunted and weak to supply institutions like the PCSIR with the requisite talent. Our local manufacturing industry, too, has not deemed it fit to develop a working relationship with the council but then one cannot blame it because the council is hardly known to be a storehouse of ideas and talent in action. If the PCSIR has to be revamped, no amount of funding will make it successful unless these other key problems and deficiencies are tackled. Realistically speaking, bodies like it will do well only when there is a corresponding thriving scientific and research sector, usually driven and funded by institutions of higher learning and local industry.
IT seems that the intelligence personnel who picked up and detained the rights activist Akhtar Baloch in Hyderabad last Sunday are sending a clear message to all those who dare question the army’s powers and its role in national politics. He was held in detention, blindfolded and grilled, for three days before being released. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, of which Mr Baloch is a member, has condemned his unlawful kidnapping and detention calling the action a blatant violation of basic rights and liberties of the citizens. Another HRCP member from Thar, Krishan Sharma, is reportedly still in the agencies’ custody. There have been at least ten such reports of illegal detention and torture by the agencies over the past twelve months, including that of Rana Sanaullah Khan, a very vocal critic of the military’s role in politics, and deputy leader of the opposition in the Punjab assembly, earlier this month.
Such unwarranted and illegal detention of innocent civilians on the part of the intelligence agencies goes to show that the unbridled powers enjoyed by these personnel are widely abused. Often they resort to acting as a state unto themselves, showing little regard for the norms of conduct or the rule of law. What is worse is that the tortured citizens seem to have no recourse against their tormentors. The ignoble methods and practices routinely used by government intelligence and security agencies have only brought a bad name to the country, and made a hash of the norms of civil society. Is it any wonder then that ordinary citizens have no faith left in either those who rule in their name or those who claim to play the watchdog over their rights and interests?